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PROCEEDINGS 

OF THE 

JOINT COMMITTEE 

APPOINTED BY THE 

SOCIETY OE ERIENDS, 

CONSTITUTING THE YEARLY MEETINGS 



GENESSEE, NEW YORK, PHILADELPHIA 
AND BALTIMORE, 

For promoting the civilization and improving the condition, 



SENECA NATION OF INDIANS. 




BALTIMORE: 

WILLIAM WOODDY, PRINTER. 

1 847. 



PREFACE 



The society of Friends who compose the Yearly meetings 
of Genesee, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, having for 
some years past been engaged in efforts to promote the civili- 
zation, of some of the Indian tribes, residing in the western 
parts of the state of New York; and having under the pre- 
sent improved situation, both as regards the intellectual and 
social condition of the Senecas, who have been under their 
care, reason to hope, that in a little time, these people will be 
able to manage their own affairs, without much assistance from 
us, the Committees appointed by those several Yearly meet- 
ings to attend to this service, believe it right, to prepare for 
the general information of our members, who have taken a 
deep interest in this concern, a narrative of our proceed- 
ings. 

This has been deemed the more necessary as, by being 
made fully acquainted with the former and present circum- 
stances of those Indians, our members wiU be better able to 
judge, what it may be proper for the society of Friends here- 
after to do for them, should our connexion with them be con- 
tinued. 

In the course of their labors, the jomt Committees of the 
four Yearly meetings here referred to, have encountered many 
formidable obstacles ; and among other difficulties they have 
had to struggle with a powerful combination, composed of an 
influential body of men, deeply interested, and resolutely de- 
termined to drive these Indians from the homes descended to 



IV 

them, through many generations, from their forefathers, and 
who did not hesitate to resort to every means in their power 
to effect that object. The result that must have followed this 
cruel purpose, had it succeeded, may be seen in the melan- 
choly fate which befel that portion of the Senecas, who were 
■ decoyed off to the west in the summer of 1846. 

When the committee embarked in this effort to change the 
entire habits of a whole community or nation, strongly attached 
as these Indians were, to the usages and practices of their an- 
cestors, and educated, as they had been, in a hereditary aver- 
sion to the institutions of civilization, they were fully aware 
that the undertaking was one of uncertain issue, and under 
the most favorable circumstances must have been expected to 
involve, much time and labor. By steadily persuing their 
purpose however, cheered under the most adverse circum- 
stances by the unbounded confidence of the Indians, and sus- 
tained by the consoling assurances of their own feelings, that 
they were endeavoring to discharge what they believed to be 
their duty, towards an oppressed and grievously wronged peo- 
ple, they yielded to no discouragements, and have now the 
satisfaction to witness a most favorable and radical change, ra- 
pidly advancing among the Senecas, affording a consoling 
prospect that this remnant of a once numerous and powerful 
people, will be rescued from the melancholy fate that has be- 
fallen so many tribes of their race in our country. 

On comparing the condition of those Indians, at the time 
when they came under the care of Friends, with their present 
situation, it will be seen, that there has been an improvement 
among them, even greater than could have been reasonably antici- 
pated. We found them without a home, — destitute, desponding 
and miserable — they are now in possession of a sufficient extent 
of their patrimonial domain, secured to them by a title, of which 
they cannot be despoiled, but with their own consent, and by their 
own act — The}"^ have been taught to cultivate their lands, have 
comfortable dwellings, and the requisite stock and implements, 
to render their farms sufficiently productive of the necessary food 



for their families. — Many of their children have received 
school education, and the condition of their women, has been 
greatly meliorated and improved, with the prospect that here- 
after, they Avill occupy a much more comfortable and appropri- 
ate position, than formerly, and above all, the Senecas at Cat- 
taraugus and Alleghany, from having formerly been generally 
addicted to the excessive use of spirituous liquors, have been 
induced to exclude all intoxicating drinks from their Reserva- 
tions, and are become a sober, and to a considerable extent, 
industrious people. 



PROCEEDINGS 



JOINT COMMITTEE, 



In the year 1827 Red Jacket, the distinguished Chief of the 
Seneca nation, then filUng the highest station his people could 
confer, being their Head or chief Sachem ; perceiving his 
health to decline and the infirmities of age to increase upon 
him, became deeply concerned for the welfare of his tribe. 
The diificulties and dangers, which he saw, fast gathering 
around his people, rendered him desirous, if possible, by pre- 
cautionary measures, to avert the desolation that he feared 
would soon overtake them. He anxiously cast his eye round 
him to see where they might find protection, when he should 
be removed by death, — or to use his own expressions, " when 
my warning voice shall no longer be heard, and the foot of the 
Indian's exulting foe may with safety be placed upon my 
grave." Remembering the many acts of kindness, which had, 
reciprocally passed between his fore-fathers and the Society of 
Friends, as handed down by tradition from the first settlement 
of Pennsylvania, he determined to apply for assistance to the 
Committee on Indian affairs of New York Yearly meeting. 
He accordingly proceeded to that city, and made a personal 
appeal to the Committee ; entreating that Friends would take 
his people under their care, with a view to their civilization 
and instruction in agriculture, but more particularly with a 
hope that they might be able to protect them from the intru- 
sions of the white people, and the evils of the land speculators. 

That Committee had then under their care the Onondago 
/ 



8 

tribe of Indians, and did not see their way clear to come under 
any additional responsibilities. They informed him of this 
conclusion, and at the same time stated that the subject should 
be more maturely considered, — that it should be submitted to 
the consideration of the next Yearly meeting, and that when 
prepared, the Committee would give him an answer. 

In the early part of the year 1829, and not many months be- 
fore his decease Red Jacket renewed his application for the 
assistance of Friends, and in an earnest appeal to the Commit- 
tee, eloquently invoking their sympathy and friendship, he laid 
before them the following Address in writing : 

January 20, 1829. 

" To the Society of Friends of the City of JYew York. 

" At the treaty of Philadelphia with William Penn and the 
six nations, we considered William Penn as a friend to us, not 
wishing to cheat us out of our lands, but disposed to pay us a 
fair value for them. Since that time the Society of Friends 
have treated us very kindly. They have never shewn a dispo- 
sition to wrong us out of our lands, but seemed to wish to cul- 
tivate friendship with us, and to let us have our rights and 
privileges, as well as to let us enjoy our religion. 

" But there are certain persons residing among us at present, 
who, we beUeve, have a different object. They say they have 
been sent by the Great Spirit ; but we do not think the Great 
Spirit would send people among us to cheat us out of our 
lands, and to cause dissentions to arise among us ; which have 
made a division in our nation. No ! We do not think the 
Great Spirit sent the black coats among us, for any such pur- 
pose. There are at present six thousand of our people, and 
upwards, who wish the Society of Friends to send a suitable 
person among us, and teach our young men how to til the 
oTOund, and our young women the arts of domestic manufac- 
tures, and to read and write. 

" If our friends feel disposed to comply with our wishes, we 



shall be happy to receive them, and will cause all the neces- 
sary buildings to be erected for their use. We think by having 
this plan carried into effect, our nation will once more become 
a united and happy people. 

"Farewell, from your friend, 

RED H JACKET. 

As interpreted by J. Grant, Intei-preior." 

Owing to the disturbed and unsettled state of Society at that 
time, it was concluded to take no immediate action in the case, 
and Red Jacket was so informed. On hearing this decision 
he appeared to be greatly dejected, and again renewed his suit, 
urgently pressing Friends to reconsider his request. Sympa- 
thizing with the noble chief in his paternal concern for the 
preservation and welfare of his nation, a few Friends concluded 
to invite him to a private interview, at one ot their houses, in 
order to have a further conference with him on the subject of 
his concern. The proposed meeting was had accordingly, 
when he was met on the part of Friends by Israel Corse, 
William C. White, Robert Hicks, and some others. 

At this interview, Red Jacket pressed his suit, by stating 
many circumstances and considerations, from which it appear- 
ed, that in his estimation, the very existence of his nation was 
in jeopardy; and he concluded by declaring, with affecting 
emphasis, that "the Society of Friends, was now his only 
hope," — that he knew them well, and was fully satisfied that 
if they would take his people under their care, they might yet 
be preserved from destruction. He stated with much feeUng,^ 
that he was now an old man, that he must shortly be gathered 
to the graves of his fathers, and that his descent to the tomb 
would be made easy by the assurance that his nation, after his 
decease, would be under the care and protection of Friends. 
They had gained his entire confidence and the confidence of 
the Seneca nation, by their long continued and disinterested 
labors for the benefit of the Indians of this country. 
2 



10 

JSTotwithstanding the deep concern and sympathy felt by 
Friends, on hearing the urgent appeal of this aged and venera- 
ble Chief, they were not prepared to come to any definite con- 
clusion in relation to his request. It was however agreed to 
lay his application before the ensuing Yearly meeting of New 
York, to be held in the spring of that year, — which was ac- 
cordingly done, and the subject was then referred to the atten- 
tion of a Committee of men and women Friends, with instruc- 
tions to extend such care towards these Indians, as they might 
be enabled to render. 

Before taking any measures in the case, the Committee de- 
cided to appoint a sub-committee, with authority to visit the 
Seneca nation, ascertain more particularly their circumstances, 
and especially how far it was the general wish of the nation, 
that Friends should extend to their people that assistance and 
care which had been solicited by their Chief Sachem. 

In the course of the year 1830, this deputation proceeded to 
make them a visit, and at the Buffalo Reservation met in Coun- 
cil fourteen of their Chiefs, and about two hundred of their 
people. From Buffalo they proceeded to Cattaraugus, where 
they met in Council five of their Chiefs, and about one hun- 
dred of their people. At these conferences the sub-committee 
was informed " that the Address presented last year to Friends 
in New York, dated January 20th, 1829, was agreed to in a 
General Council of all the tribes, or settlements, from Buffalo 
to Allegany, and that it was a true expression of the wishes of 
all their people except the Missionary party" — that they now 
renewed their earnest entreaty "to Friends, that they would 
send some person or persons among them, to teach them agri- 
culture and domestic manufactures." 

This information was laid before the Yearly meeting in the 
Fifth month, 1830, with the judgment of the Committee that, 
"essential and lasting benefit may be conferred on those In- 
dians by the extension of care to them by the Yearly meeting." 
Which being approved by the meeting, several Friends were 
added U^ ihe committee, and they were encouraged to rendey 



11 

the desired aid. This Committee in order to be enabled to 
proceed advisedly, appointed a deputation to make another 
visit to the Seneca nation, to obtain fuller information relative 
to their disposition, location, and other circumstances neces- 
sary to be known, in order effectually to carry out the design 
of the Yearly meeting. 

The Committee having performed the duties assigned them, 
so far as way had yet opened, drew up a Report, which was 
submitted to the ensuing Yearly meeting. In this Report they 
state, that " at a General Council, in which both the Christian 
and Pagan parties were present, the Indians appeared very 
grateful for this attention on the part of Friends, stating that 
they beUeved the Great Spirit had put it into the hearts of the 
children of William Penn to thus visit them, — expressing an 
anxious desire that some of us would come out and live among 
them, to teach their yoxmg men to til the ground, and their 
young women to spin, knit, and sew." 

After duly considering this information, the Yearly meeting 
concluded to instruct the Committee to continue their attention 
to this service : And a Friend having offered to remove and 
reside among these Indians, his proposals were accepted, and 
it was arranged that he should be located at Cattaraugus, with 
instructions to extend such care and assistance to the people oi 
that Reservation as he might be enabled to render. A delega- 
tion of several Friends was apposnted to visit the settlement, 
and authorized to make such arrangements with the Indians in 
relation to the residence and duties of the Friend who was to 
remove there, as would be satisfactory to 'them. 

The Committee after arriving at the Reservation, had a con- 
ference with the Indians, when it was agreed that a Farm of 
two hundred acres should be laid off in a situation most suita- 
ble for the purposes intended, to be occupied by Friends, so 
long as they might continue their labors, in accordance with 
the desire of the Indians. This being done, about seventy 
acres were cleared and fenced, and a commodious dwelling 



12 

and school house were erected, together with a barn and other 
requisite improvements, for the accommodation of a family. 

The establishment was organized and the school opened in the 
year 1833. It was attended by an average number of twenty- 
five children. 

Soon after these arrangements were so far completed, a 
communication was received from the Chiefs, expressing 
their satisfaction with what had been done, and again earnest- 
ly requesting Friends to continue their labors for the edu- 
cation of their children, and to protect them against the en- 
croachment of the white people, who, as they stated, were 
constantly using means to take advantage of them. About this 
time the Indians of the Tonewanda Reservation, desired the 
care and assistance of Friends, but no way opened to grant 
their request. 

In the year 1834, after the establishment of Genessee Yearly 
meeting. Friends of that meeting became interested for the 
welfare of the Indians, and united with New York Yearly 
meeting in the concern. From that time the more immediate 
care and superintendence of the establishment at Cattaraugus 
devolved on Genessee Friends, who attended to the duties of 
that department with satisfactory results until the year 1838. 

In the Fifth month, 1837, the Yearly meeting of Philadel- 
phia, under some general view of the difficulties in which the 
Indian natives, yet remaining East of the Mississippi, were 
involved ; became concerned to renew its labors for their bene- 
fit. A Committee was accordingly appointed, chosen out of 
each Quarterly meeting, and consisting of thirty-two members ; 
to whom the subject was committed, with instruction to " en- 
quire into the concern, and to propose to next Yearly meeting 
what they might deem suitable on the occasion." 

At the time that Committe was appointed, the Yearly meet- 
ing was almost wholly ignorant of the peculiar situation and 
circumstances of the Seneca nation ; as is evident from its 
Minute, which only authorized its Committee to " enquire into 
the concern and to propose measures for its future consi- 
deration." 



IS 

In the year 1838 that Committee made a report to its Yearly- 
meeting, in which they state, that "efforts to induce the Indians 
to part with their lands were causing difficulties and divisions 
among them, — that at a Council recently held with them, near 
Buffalo, a Treaty had been signed by some of their Chiefs, 
agreeing to cede four of their Reservations, and that, notwith- 
standing a remonstrance from a large number of them, fears 
were entertained that it might be sanctioned by the General 
Government, in which event those under the care of Friends 
would be removed far to the West. And they further say, 
"but in case this treaty, which appears to have been obtained 
by fraud, and against the will of a large majority of the In- 
dians, should not be ratified by Government,, it is believed the 
advice and care of Friends towards them, might have an influ- 
ence to encourage them to habits of industry in the improve- 
ment of their lands, — of temperance and domestic economy, and 
might prevent them from falling into the hands of avaricious 
and designing speculators. We therefore suggest to the Yearly 
meeting the propriety of having a standing Committee appoint- 
ed, in order to embrace any suitable opportunity of affording 
such advice and assistance as may be deemed needful, and to 
place at the disposal of such Committee a sum not exceeding 
five hundred dollars for this object." This report being united 
with by the Yearly meeting, it appointed a Committee of nine- 
teen Friends, to give such attention to the subject as thej 
might deem needful. 

Hitherto the action of the Committee of Philadelphia Yearly 
meeting, had been confined to correspondence by letter with 
Friends of Genessee Yearly meeting, and to personal inquiries 
for the purpose of obtaining such information as might qualify 
them for usefulness to the objects of their care. So extensive 
and intricate a case, involving so many subjects of inquiry, re- 
quired caution, and made it necessary to obtain a full and ac- 
curate knowledge of the subject, in order to fulfil the object of 
their appointment. 

In the winter of 1838-9 that Committee appointed a few of 



14 

their number to proceed to Washington on behalf ot the Sene- 
ca Indians, and to solicit for them the protection of the Govern- 
ment. On their return they reported that they had an inter- 
view with the President, and- several members of the Senate 
and House of Representatives, by whom they were kindly re- 
ceived. They add " and though they were informed that it 
was the settled policy of the Government to remove the aborigines 
west of the Mississippi river, as soon as practicable, yet they 
felt assured that the interference of Friends was timely, and 
awakened a more lively interest in the subject." 

At the Yearly meeting in the spring of 1839 the Committee 
made report of the proceedings during the past year, in which 
they say, " Notwithstanding the many discouragements which 
the present circumstances of the Aborigines present, we believe 
that as the voice of truth and justice is raised to plead their 
cause, it will not be in vain : — and we hope the same kind 
feeling which has heretofore been manifested by the Society of 
Friends for this portion of our oppressed and injured fellow 
men, may continue to be cherished, and every right opening 
cheerfully embraced, to extend towards them that assistance, 
which justice and christian sympathy require." The Commit- 
tee was continued to pay further attention to the subject, and 
to report to the ensuing Yearly meeting an account of its pro- 
ceedings. 

Up to this period no joint action of the three Yearly meet- 
ings of Genessee, New York and Philadelphia, had taken 
place : but in the summer of 1839 the President of the United 
States, having authorized the Secretary of War, to hold a 
Council with the Seneca nation at Cattaraugus, invited Friends 
of those three Yearly meetings, charged with the Indian concern, 
to attend that Council. As the Council was to be held for the 
express purpose of submitting to the Senecas the Treaty, alledged 
to be fraudulent, and which had been the cause of so much 
distrust and difficulty, Friends promptly accepted the invitation 
to attend it. It was an opportunity so rare and so desirable for 
obtaining a full and authentic knowledge of the facts and 



15 

circumstances of this intricate subject, that Friends believed it 
to be their duty to be present on that interesting occasion. 

On the 12th of the Eighth month, 1839, the Council was 
assembled pursuant to appointment. Several Officers of the 
General Government "were present. General Dearborn the 
Agent of the State of Massachusetts, and Judge Stryker, the 
United States Agent for the Seneca nation, with other distin- 
guished individuals attended. Many speeches, both on the 
part of the Officers of Government, and of the Indians by their 
Chiefs, were made, and much information elicited of great im- 
portance to those, whose duty it was to plead the cause of a 
deeply injured and suffering people. But no other satisfactory 
result was obtained. 

Having by this and other means gained much information in 
relation to the objects of their mission, delegates from the three 
Yearly meetings were appointed to lay the same before the 
President of the United States. When this delegation on their 
way to the seat of Government, arrived at Baltimore, they 
found the Yearly meeting of Friends, held in that city, was 
then in session. The subject of our concern, and some of the 
facts in relation to the Indians, were opened in that meeting ; 
which, entering into deep sympathy with that suffering people, 
directed its Indian Committee, to unite with the Committees of 
the three Yearly meetings of Genessee, New York, and Phila- 
delphia, in their endeavors to assist and protect them. 

Thus united, the delegates of the four Yeariy meetings pro- 
ceeded to Washington, and on the 2d of the Eleventh month, 
1839, presented to the President the following Memorial. 

«' To the President of the Uaited States: 

"The undersigned, on belief of the several committees on In- 
dian concerns, appointed by the four Yearly Meetings of Friends 
of Genesee, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, 
Respectfullf represent : 

" That the religious Society of Friends, since the first settle- 
ment of Pennyslvania, has ever maintained with the abori- 



16 

gines of our country, the most cordial and friendly relations. 
The numerous acts of kindness — the protection and support — 
received by our emigrating ancestors from that people, have 
left on the minds of their successors, the most lasting impres- 
sions of gratitude. The friendship cemented by the justice 
and magnanimity of William Penn, on the one side, and by 
the benevolent conduct of the natives on the other, has been 
as lasting as it was honorable to both. The original treaty be- 
tween them was never violated on either side. When the ad- 
ministration of the colonial government had passed out of the 
hands of the Proprietaries, Friends did not forget the obligations 
of gratitude and justice. On all proper occasions they have ap- 
peared on behalf of the Indians, as their friends and councellors. 
They sent agents to reside among them to instruct them in the 
arts of civiHzed life ; and, at great expense of time and money, 
labored for their civilization and improvement. The Senecas, 
Tuscaroras, Cayugas, Onondagas, and Oneidas, from their 
proximity to the settlements of our people, became the pecu- 
liar objects of our care. 

"It is not, therefore, from any desire to meddle in the affairs 
of government, or to call in question the benevolence of its 
intentions, or to interfere with the just claims of any of our 
fellow-cititizens, that we appear on the present occasion. — 
Our objects is, that the government of our country may ex- 
ercise justice and mercy towards a weak and defenceless peo- 
ple, and maintain a character that, while it stands without 
reproach in the face of the world, will command the respect 
of every virtuous citizen. 

"A treaty, concluded between the United States and some 
of the chiefs, headmen, and warriors, of the several tribes of 
New York Indians, bearing date January 15, 1838, was, by 
the President, transmitted to the Senate for its consideration. 
The great object of this treaty, on the part of the government, 
was the removal of that people to certain lands assigning them 
beyond the Mississippi. The Senate, designing to do justice be- 
tween the parties interested, and to shield the Indians from the 



17 

aggressions and frauds of the whites, with a magnanimity proper 
to the exalted station assigned it by the Constitution, refused 
to ratify that instrument in form as presented. The treaty 
was amended in several important particulars, and it was then 
ordered, that so modified, it should be " fully and fairly ex- 
plained to each tribe, separately, in open council, and that a 
majority of the chiefs should voluntarily and freely assent to 
each and all of the amendments made by the Senate." This 
being done, and the treaty signed by such majority, it was to be 
binding, otherwise to have no force or effect. 

The object of the Senate, in thus directing that the treaty so 
amended should be " fully and fairly explained in open couw 
cil," was obviously to prevent frauds, so easily practiced by 
artful men upon an unlettered and unsuspecting people. The 
Senate well knew that all the means which avarice could bring 
into action, might be privately employed, in order to remove 
the Indians. They knew that 116,000 acres of fertile 
land, surrounded by populous cities and towns, in the very 
heart of an agricultural district, highly improved and extreme- 
ly productive, were a great temptation, and they wisely and 
honorably prescribed that the transaction should take place in 
'^open council." 

The directions of the Senate, so far as they enjoined that 
the amendments to the treaty should be " fully and fairly ex- 
plained to each of the tribes in open council," appear to have 
been complied with : and it is to be presumed that the Indians 
well understood those explanations. But what was the result.^ 
The United States commissioner, in a letter dated Washington, 
October 25, 1838, says. "I then received sixteen signa- 
tures." 

On the part of those who are in favor of emigrating, it is 
affirmed that the number of chiefs, duly qualified, is but eighty- 
one ; while the non-emigrating party declare there are upwards 
of ninety. Taking, however, the lowest number, there were 
but sixteen chiefs out of eighty-one who signed the treaty in 
"open council." 



18 

But the commissioner (by what authority, is not slated) had 
informed the Indians, that "those who from /ear, or other 
cause, should prefer to sign the treaty at his room, might do 
80." In pursuance of this arrangement, thirteen chiefs were 
induced to come forward and sign the treaty in the commis- 
sioner's room ! Subsequently two other signatures w^ere ob- 
tained, by waiting on the chiefs in their own private houses ! 
Thus the names of thirty-one, out of more than eighty chiefs, 
appear as sanctioning that treaty ! 

Of this procedure on the part of the commissioner, the In- 
dians, heavily complain. They affirm it to have been the 
uniform practice of the nation to execute such instruments 
in open council, unless in cases were delegates were spe- 
cially appointed by the nation for that purpose. To a peo" 
pie who have not the use of a written language, customs sanc- 
tioned by immemorial usage, have the force of laws, are res- 
pected by them as such, and ought to be so respected by 
others. It requires but little knowledge of human nature 
to perceive that the mode of procuring signatures to a 
treaty, as adopted by the commississioner, if sanctioned by the 
government, must open a door for all manner of corruption and 
fraud. That it did so on the present occasion, is affirmed 
by the Indians, and proved by a long train of evidence of 
unquestionable character. 

If the Senate, by directing that an explanation of the amend- 
ments should be had in open council, intended to prevent 
frauds, why should their execution be in private 1 We can- 
not perceive that there is more, or even as much danger of 
fraud in z. private explanation as there is in a private execution 
of a treaty ; and we see no ground in the resolution of the 
Senate, for supposing that it intended a private execution of 
that instrument. 

The treaty, thus signed, was returned to the Executive. Not 
satisfied that the requisitions of the Senate had been compli- 
ed with, the President, with a just regard to the hig]i trust re- 



19 

posed in him, refused to sanction the proceedings of the com- 
missioners, so far as regards the Seneca nation. 

Having failed to obtain such, an assent to the amended treaty 
as the resolution of the Senate required, the commissioner again 
repaired to the Seneca nation, and there directed the sub- 
agent of the United States to give public notice that he was 
present and authorized to take the signatures of such chiefs as 
desired to give them. In his second report to the Office of 
Indian Affairs, he says: "After this notice, ten additional 
names were received to the assent, making in all forly-one." 
Three additional names were subsequently forwarded to Wash- 
ington, after the treaty was under consideration. 

It becomes our duty now to show by what means the names 
of a very considerable number of the chiefs who signed, or 
appear to have signed that treaty, became attached to it. We 
have seen that only sixteen of them signed it in open council ; 
the others, amounting to twenty-eight, were privately obtained. 

It may be proper here to premise, (though the fact is gener- 
ally known,) that the Ogden Company holds a pre-emptive 
claim to the lands of the Seneca Indians ; that is, as we under- 
stand it, an exclusive right to purchase these lands when the 
present owners choose to sell them. This right is vested in 
that company by purchase from the assigns of the State of Mas- 
sachusetts. Powerful in its recourses, this company is seeking, 
by various means, to dispossess the Indians. Whenever and 
wherever a treaty is to be held with this nation, then and there 
we find the Ogden Land Company, by its agents, prepared 
to put in operation their measures to persuade or drive these 
Indians from their present homes. 

Among the various means employed to obtain signatures to 
the treaty one is, by large rewards and specious promises, to 
secure the sei-vices of influential chiefs, and binding them to 
" use their best exertions and endeavors to dispose and induce 
the said Indians to sell and release, by treaty, their lands." 
By sundry documents, exhibited to us by the Seneca Indians 
9t the late council held at Cattaraugus, it appears, that to eight 



20 

chiefs of that nation, the payment of $21,600 was promised, 
upon the faith of written articles duly executed by the com- 
pany's agent, for the purpose aforesaid. 

By an article of agreement between the said agent and John 
Snow, a Seneca chief, dated 29th July, 1837, the said chief 
was to receive the sum of $2,000 and a lease for life of the 
farni on which he resides. Afterward, when the amended 
treaty was pressed upon him, he declares, under oath, that Gen- 
eral Potter, agent of said company, offered him, $4,000 if he 
would sign the assent to the amendments, and that he should 
have a deed for two hundred and thirty acres of land wherever 
he should choose it, and that deponent's wife might call on him 
for $50. After his signature was obtained, as described in the 
affidavit, Potter made him a present of $100. 

Samuel Gordon, another of said chiefs, by an article dated 
Avigust 7, 1837, was to receive for his services in the premises 
the sum of $6,000. 

George Bennett, another chief, by an article bearing date Au- 
gust 7, 1837, was to receive on the same account the sum of 
$6,000. 

George Bigdeer, another of said chiefs, for the like services, 
was to receive the sum of $1,000 and a lease for ten years of 
the land on which he resided, containing about fifty acres, as 
appears by an article dated September 16, 1837. 

Blue Eyes, another chief of that nation, for signing the treaty, 
and for his services aforesaid, was to receive $2,000 and a lease 
for life of the land on which he resided, containing about fifty 
acres. 

Jacob Jimeson, another Seneca chief, for his services as a- 
foresaid, and for signing the said treaty, was to receive $1,000. 
John Gordon, a chief of said nation, for signing the said treaty, 
and for services as aforesaid, was to receive $1,100 and a lease 
for ten years of about sixty acres of land, improved and now 
occupied by him, on the Alleghany reservation. 

Levi Halftown, a Seneca chief, for his services and influence, 



21 

was to receive S500 and a lease for about sixty acres, to hold 
the same so long as he shall continue to live thereon. 

The Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom was referred the 
President's message, dated January 21, 1839, transmitting a 
treaty, as amended by the Senate, in their able and lucid report, 
say: "Those opposed to the treaty accuse several of those 
who have signed their assent to the amended treaty with hav- 
ing been bribed, and, in at least one instance, they make out 
the charge very clearly." We trust the accompanying docu- 
ments, containing copies of similar contracts, will make out the 
charge with equal clearness ; in other instances and by fair in- 
ference we may conclude the charge true in many cases not 
yet come to light. 

But we have seen that, in addition to the sum of ^21,600, to 
be paid to the aforenamed eight chiefs, as a reward for seduc- 
ing their fellow chiefs to sell the lands of their unwilUng con- 
stituents, there was an engagement entered into, by the agent of 
the Ogden Land Company, to give four of the said chiefs leases 
of lands on their present reservations ; some for life, some for 
a term of years, some during actual occupation, and one a fee 
simple title for 230 acres, "on condition of services to be 
[by them] faithfully performed in the premises," &c. By 
such leases and conveyances the apparent order of things is to 
be curiously reserved ! The emigrating party is to stay at 
home, while the party averse to a removal are to be driven 
from their lands and firesides against their consent ! We have 
no doubt, from a variety of evidence, that one of the most 
powerful inducements offered to the emigrating chiefs (under 
the impression, from repeated assurances, that the treaty would, 
at all events, be enforced,) was the belief that, if they com- 
plied with the wishes of the Ogden Company, they would be 
permitted to live and die on their native ground ! 

Little Joe, a warrior of the Seneca nation, resident at Buffa- 
lo, in an affidavit taken before H. A. Salisbury, dated February 
7, 1839, deposes and says : "There were frequent meetings of 
the purchasing company with those who were hired as runners 



22 

to devise means to accomplish the company's purpose ; that, 
at such meetings, there was a bounty of $40 per name offered 
to such runners as should obtain the signatures of chiefs to 
papers said to be powers of attorney, made either to the Indian 
agent or one of the company, or one of the emigrating Indians, 
empowering said agent, one of the said company, or Indians, 
to affix said chief's names to the assent to the amendment ; 
and further, that the runners were instructed to leave no 
means untried to obtain the signatures of chiefs to said papers, 
especially with such as could be worked upon by liquor." 

David White, a chief of the Seneca nation, residing at Buffa- 
lo, by affidavit bearing date February 7, 1839, deposes, that 
while commissioner Gillet was in Buffalo last fall, one John 
Jimeson (an Indian and runner for the purchasing company) 
came to this deponent and offered him $1,000, cash in hand, 
provided this deponent would go down to Buffalo to the man- 
sion house (a tavern) and sign the assent to the Senate's 
amendments, which deponent absolutely refused ! Such were 
some of the means used to effect the company's purposes ; but 
others, if possible, still more objectionable, will now be advert- 
ed to. 

By an affidavit, signed by Big Kettle and seven other chiefs 
of the Seneca nation, bearing date February 7, 1839, it appears 
that John Hutchinson, Charles Greybeard, and Fisher Peirce, 
three Indians of that nation, residing at Cattaraugus, had at- 
tached their names to the amended treaty as chiefs, and that 
they obtained this title by a sham election at a tavern in Buf- 
falo last fall ! The deponents say that such an election is frau- 
dulent , no election to the office of chief being valid unless 
sanctioned by the Six Nations in council assembled. 

John General, a chief of the Seneca Nation, in his affidavit, 
dated February 7, 1839, says, that, near the close of the coun- 
cil held last summer by R. H. Gillet, being on his way to Buf- 
falo, he was enticed by one of the runners of the purchasing 
company into a tavern and pressed to drink some ardent spirits, 
which he did, and finally became intoxicated, in which state 



23 

he was strongly pressed to sign the assent to the amended 
treaty, which he constantly refused. He further deposes that 
he has since been informed his name is affixed to it ; and so- 
lemnly declares, that he never so atfixed it, unless it was when 
he was so drunk that he did not know it, and has never since 
remembered it. 

In a letter from one hundred and forty young warriors of the 
Seneca nation to the Secretary of War, dated April 6, 1839, 
they say : " The fact is, that those chiefs who are in favor of 
emigration have, almost to a man, by bargains with the pur- 
chasing company, provided for the future residence of them- 
selves and families for life ! Those very men who are most 
urgent for us to go, are the very men who are to stay !" 

Whatever may have been the reasons in favor of the removal 
of the Indians in the southwestern parts of the United States, 
we do not think they are applicable to the case of those on 
whose account we now appear. It is true that the Indian na- 
tions who formerly resided on the Atlantic frontier have been 
either wholly exterminated or driven back. At the touch of 
the "white borderers," they have been consumed. In an un- 
civilized state the read man receives the vices and diseases of 
the white, but is not prepared to practice his virtues or to use 
his remedies. These vices and diseases have made more havoc 
among the aborigines of our country than the tomahawk or the 
sword. But the country surrounding the Seneca Indians is 
now civilized and densely populated. Instead of perpetually 
meeting the rude squatter, who, with his rifle and his rum bot- 
tle, neither fears God or regards man, the New York Indian 
has only to step over the geographical line which marks the 
boundary of his reservation, and he finds himself in the midst 
of an intelligent and virtuous population. He sees fertile fields, 
in a high state of improvement, rendered profitable by a judi- 
cious system of agriculture ; he sees beautiful specimens of 
building, securing the comforts and elegancies of life, and com- 
manding his admiration by their adaptation to our wants or out 
tastes. Instead of examples whose only tendency is to corrupt 



24 

and debase him, he sees on every side models of industry, so- 
briety, and order. 

The greatest obstacle to the civilization of the Indian is his 
aversion to labor. Civilization is a system of restraints. At 
every turn it demands a sacrifice oi personal ease. In his na- 
tural state, the pleasures of the Indian feed him. He procures 
his fond by fishing and hunting. In the state to which we in- 
vite him, "by the sweat of his face he must eat bread." To 
arrive at this state, both nature and hahit must be overcome. 
It is not, therefore, a subject of wonder that he slowly and re- 
luctantly yields to the necessity of a change. No nation, per- 
haps, ever became civilized but by the force of circumstances. 
But the situation and circumstances of the JVew York Indians 
have brought them to this necessity ; either civilization or ex- 
iermination must overtake them, and they generally know it, 
They have perceived it for some years past, and partly from 
this conviction, and partly by the force of example, they have 
within a short period, made more rapid advances in the arts 
and improvements of civilized life than at any former time. 

M. B. Pierce, a young Indian of the Seneca nation, who, 
through the bounty of our Government, has received a liberal 
education, writing on this subject, makes the following state- 
ment in relation to his tribe: "In business there is much 
greater diligence and industry ; their teams, in respect to oxen, 
horses, wagons, sleighs, &c., are more in number and better in 
quality than formerly ; and, in these respects there is a con- 
stant improvement. The men labor more comparatively, and 
the women less, except in their appropriate sphere. With re- 
gard to buildings, they are much more conveniently planned, 
and of the best materials, both dwelling-houses and barns, and 
new ones constantly going up. Those who have not lands of 
their own under cultivation are much more willing to hire 
themselves to labor for others ; this shows that the idea that 
work is dishonorable, is done away. There are among us good 
mowers, and cradlers, and reapers ; blacksmiths, carpenters, 
shoemakers, and other mechanics, do work enough for their 



25 

brethren. There are several wagons in the nation that are 
worth more than f^lOO. Manure is sometimes applied, which, 
but five years ago, was almost universally wasted. With re- 
gard to their mode of living, tables, chairs, bedsteads, and cook- 
ing apparatus, have been purchased of the whites, or manufac- 
tured in imitation of them ; and they are used to a greater or 
less extent in every family. The habit of taking regular meals 
is gaining ground, and the provision luxurious. They are 
more attentive and judicious in the care of the sick, and rely 
less on notions and quackery. They employ skilful physicians, 
and use the medicines with less prejudice and a great deal 
more confidence. We have other evidences of improvement, 
in the increase of industry, and a consequent advance in dress, 
furniture, and all the comforts and conveniences of civilized 
life. The fields of the Indians have never been kept in such 
good order, nor managed with so much skiU, as within a few 
years. At public meetings and other large assemblies they 
appear comfortably and decently, and some of them richly 
clad. There are many of them who keep themselves well in- 
formed of what is going on in the country. Newspapers have 
been taken from Washington, Philadelphia, New York, and 
other cities in the United States, and two or three copies of the 
' Genessee Farmer.' Some of the young men have libraries, 
and in them a choice selection of books. All these improve- 
ments are advancing at a rapid rate." 

From other sources of information, and from our own know- 
ledge, we believe this picture is not over colored. The in- 
creasing intelligence of the Indians is qualifying them better 
to appreciate the advantage of their present location ; and the 
consequence is, that they are more and more averse to a change 
of residence. The events of the two preceding years have 
caused them to reflect, to investigate, to reason ; and a num- 
ber of those who, when the subject of emigration was first pro- 
posed, and large rewards offered for their compliance with the 
measure, were willing to sign the treaty, have since become 
the most decided opponents of the scheme. 



26 

By a census taken during the present summer, and con- 
firmed by affidavits, it appears that not one-fifteenth part of the 
Seneca nation are willing to go the West ; and this we believe 
to be the result of their own deliberate reflection, as strongly, 
and in a very affecting manner, expressed by one of their 
chiefs in the presence of the Secretary of War, at the late 
council held at Cattaraugus. Out of a population of 2,449 on 
the four reservations, there are only 138 who are willing to re- 
move, including the children of parents in favor of emigrating. 

But it has been maintained by the pre-emption company 
and their advocates, that those willing to emigrate have been 
deterred from signing the treaty through "fear," and the United 
States commissioner, R. H. Gillet, very plainly insinuates the 
same idea, where he says " those who, through fear or other 
cause, should prefer to sign the treaty at his room, might do 
so." Now, supposing that a majority of the chiefs had signed 
the treaty, and that such a majority implied a majority of the 
people, we see no cause why there should not be as much fear 
on the one part as on the other ; for they are all Indians, and 
one party is no more entitled to the character of savages than 
the other. If, however, there is a consciousness of perfidy and 
wrong on the side of the minority^ if it has yielded to improper 
influences, and, from selfish motives, has done what it could to 
drive from their native homes fourteen ffteenths of their breth- 
ren and sisters, it is very reasonable to suppose such minority 
would be haunted with those fears, which are usual concomi- 
tants of guilt. If the emigrating party is as anxious to go as 
the other is to stay, why should there not be as much fear in 
one case as the other? We consider the allegation of " fear" 
a pretext or an excuse for a private execution of the treaty, in 
violation of the established usages of the nation. 

By the report of the Senate's committee, it appears to have 
been their opinion, that, in order to a fair expression of the 
national will, the signatures of the chiefs ought to have been 
affixed to the treaty in "open council." " If," say they, 
" these forty-four had signed the amended treaty in open 



27 

council, the committee would consider that the requirements of 
the Senate had been complied with, at least with the appear- 
ance of having a majority." But, we have seen that only six- 
teS7i names, out of eighty-one, were thus obtained. On this 
principle, it was not then, nor is it now, a, valid treaty. 

We have seen by the census of the four reservations, that 
less than one-fifteenth part of the nation are in favor of removal ; 
a conclusive evidence that the signatures reported by the Uni- 
ted States commissioner do not fairly express the will of the 
people; and this fact carries with it a strong presumptive evi- 
dence that most of the chiefs who signed the treaty were in- 
fluenced by other motives than the will of their constituents. 

Under these circumstances, if there be real cause of fear, 
that fear should have reference to the period when they met 
their brethren beyond the Mississippi, suffering under a con- 
sciousness of lorong, and irritated by the difficulties and priva- 
tions incident to a new settlement in an uncultivated wilder- 
ness. 

But if the emigrating party really believe it would be for 
their interests, and for the interests of their children, to return 
to the habits and manners of savage life, their more liberal op- 
ponents would not interpose to thwart their views. In the 
late council at Cattaraugus, the non-emigrating party, in the 
presence of the Secretary of War, announced their willingness 
that " those who are willing to go, may go, and take their share 
of the common property." "We will not," said their official 
organ, " refuse them their share of whatever belongs to them." 
An offer so liberal and so just, we think, ought to satisfy them. 

Under former administrations, it was a favorite policy of the 
government to promote the civilization of the Indians, and 
large sums were appropriated for that purpose. But many of 
our fellow-citizens now entertain the sentiment, and we have 
no doubt sincerely, that the Indian is an untameable savage, 
made for the wilderness, and only capable of subsistmg in a 
state of nature ! We think the sentiment is erroneous — that 
circumstances only, make the difference between them and 



the white men. Our ancestors, in the island of Great Britain, 
when the polished Romans invaded their territory, were as 
savage as the natives of our own country at the planting of the 
first colony in Virginia ; they painted their bodies and clothed 
themselves in skins. Centuries rolled away ; the example of 
a civilized state, with all its advantages, was before them, and 
yet they remained nearly as barbarous as when first visited by 
a Caesar! Six hundred years after the invasion, they were far 
less improved in the arts of civilized life, than are our Indians, 
after the lapse of one-fourth part of that time. In the Seneca 
nation, the march of improvement in science and morals, as 
well as in their physical condtion, is, perhaps without a parallel 
in the history of our species! It is true much is yet to be ac- 
complished — but the lights of experience shine on our path — 
the facilities of intercourse are astonishingly multiplied — and 
nothing, we think, is wanting to the consummation of our 
wishes, for the complete civilization of the New York Indians, 
but a faithful applicaton of the means which a benevolent Pro- 
vidence has put into our hands, or placed within our reach. 

We had fondly hoped that this small remnant of the once 
powerful nations, which, but a little more than a century ago, 
peopled our forests, and covered the face of our vast country, 
might have been permitted to enjoy in peace the small remains 
of their inheritance ! We had hoped, that by the fostering 
care, and kind protection of our government, they might have 
been preserved to future generations, a fair specimen of our 
aboriginal race — a noble monument of the justice and magna- 
nimity of our nation ; and, we trust, that these hopes may not 
yet be wholly frustrated. In a national point of view, their 
removal can be no prominent object — they are few in number, 
and occupy little room ! 

In the peaceable possession of their lands and improvements, 
these Indians are entitled to the protection we ask for them, 
not only by the requisitions of mercy and justice, but by the 
express assurance of the government, whose faith has been 
solemnly and publicly pledged for that purpose. By an in- 



29 

strument of writing, under the hand of General Henry Dear- 
born, and seal of the War Office, dated March 17th, 1802, now- 
more than thirty-seven years ago, it is among other things, de- 
clared " that all lands claimed by and secured to the Seneca 
and Onondaga Indians, by treaty, convention, deed of convey- 
ance, or Reservation, lying and being within the said United 
States, shall be and remain the property of the said Seneca and 
Onondaga Indians, for ever; unless they shall voluntarily re- 
linquish or dispose of the same. And all persons, citizens of 
the United States, are hereby strictly forbidden to disturb the 
said Indian nations, in the quiet possession of said lands." 

By those who desire the removal of the Indians, without re- 
gard to the means, it is contended, that a signature of the 
treaty, by a majority of the chiefs, ought to sanction its ratifi- 
cation. If such majority had signed it in the free and unbiased 
exercise of their judgment, we should not have appeared on 
the present occasion. We have no desire, either to prevent 
the Indians from pursuing their happiness in their own way, or 
to oppose the pre-emption company, in the pursuit of their in- 
terests, by just and honorable means. But, when questions, 
deeply affecting the rights of others, are to be decided by ma- 
jorities, it ought to be presumed, that a mnjority of votes, on 
such questions, fairly represents the will of a majority of the 
people interested. To support a contrary opinion, would be 
to argue, that the will of a minority should govern in the case, 
and thus to remove the very foundation of all republican institu- 
tions. We are confident that our present rulers are not pre- 
pared, either in theory or practice, to support such .a doctrine ; 
and all we ask, in the present case, is, that the " amended 
treaty" may not be ratified, until, after a fair and impartial in- 
vestigation, it shall appear that a majority of the Indians inter- 
ested in the treaty, are in favor of its stipulations. 

We thus express ourselves because of the high confidence 
we feel in the integrity of our government ; a confidence sup- 
ported and confirmed by its past action in reference to this 
treaty. A committee of the Senate, in the report which has 



30 

been before alluded to, has nobly sustained the sentiments of 
the memorialists. In that report they say, " If these forty-four 
had signed the amended treaty in open council, the committee 
would consider that the requirements of the Senate had been 
complied with, at least with the appearance of having a major- 
ity ; but it is in vain to contend that the signatures of the last 
ten, which were obtained on the second mission, or of the three 
who have sent on their assent lately, is such a signing as was 
contemplated by the resolution of the Senate. It is compe- 
tent, however, for the Senate to waive the usual and customary 
forms in this instance, and consider the signatures of these last 
thirteen as good as though they had been obtained in open 
council. But the committee cannot recommend the adoption 
of such a practice in making treaties, for divers good reasons, 
which must be obvious to the Senate. Among those reasons 
against the secret individual negotiations, is the distrust created, 
that the chiefs, by so acting, are doing what a majorily of their 
people do not approve, or are improperly acted upon by bribery 
or threats and unfair influences.'^ 

To contemplate a forcible removal of the Indians, and the 
heartrending scenes that must accompany such removal, is 
shocking to every sentiment of justice and humanity. To see 
a great and powerful nation, lending its aid to oppress the weak 
and helpless, must tend to loosen the attachment of the people 
to their government, and would do more to weaken the bond 
of our national union than all the enemies of a just people 
could ever effect. The United States, by the peculiar nature 
of their institutions, stand conspicuously before the world. On 
the purity of our national administration, in a great measure, 
depends, not only the happiness and prosperity of our own citi- 
zens, but, perhaps, the success of one of the most momentous 
and interesting experiments which has ever been exhibited to the 
view of mankind. The great question, whether in a collective 
capacity men are capable of self-government, is yet to be final- 
ly decided. The happy decision of that question depends 
upon the virtue of the nation. May the great Ruler of the 



31 

Universe, in his boundless mercy, so direct the delegated au- 
thorities of our country, that in all their decisions involving 
the rights of others, they may be governed by the principles of 
truth and justice ; for it is a maxim sanctioned by Divine au- 
thority, and in perfect accordance with universal experience' 
that " Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to 
any people." And may the President, when he retires from 
the arduous duties of government, to the quiet enjoyments of 
private life, experience the highest reward of an upright states- 
man, " the inward consciousness that in all his movements he 
has honestly endeavored, by the worthiest means, to promote 
the best ends — the present and future welfare of his country 
and of mankind." 

Signed on behalf of the said committees, 

GRIFFITH M. COOPER, ) g 

WILLIAM S. BURLING, ^ ^enessee. 

VALENTINE HICKS, 

AMOS WILLETS, 

ABRAHAM BELL, "^JVew York. 

ROBERT HICKS, 

SAMUEL J. UNDERHILL, 

BENJAMIN FERRIS, ") 

JOHN WILSON MOORE, \m;in,uinhin 

JOHN JACKSON, ^Phdadelphxa. 

RICHARD PRICE, j 

PHILIP E. THOMAS, ) 

PHINEAS JANNEY, ) Baltimore. 

WILLIAM E. BARTLETT. ) 

Eleventh month 2, 1839." 

On hearing the memorial, and the explanatory statements ol 
the committee, the President assured Friends that he disap- 
proved oi dll fraudulent means to procure the emigration of the 
Indians, and never would sanction the treaty then before the 
Senate, provided that satisfactory evidence icere laid before him, 
proving that such means had been used on the present occasion. 
Cheered by this assurance, and confident that additional and 



32 

ample evidence of fraud of the most nefarious character, could 
be procured by a mission to the Seneca nation, one of the 
committee immediately left Washington and proceeded to Buf- 
falo for the purpose. 

The object of this mission having been fully attained, and 
much additional evidence of an official character procured, go- 
ing to prove that the amended treaty had neither been fairly 
obtained nor executed in conformity with the directions of the 
Senate, it was deemed proper again to address the President, 
and lay before him this testimony. A delegation from the 
joint committees of the four Yearly meetings accordingly re- 
paired to Washington with the following memorial. 

To the President of the United Stales. 

The committees of the four Yearly meetings of Friends of Ge- 
nessee, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, who, by 
their delegates, waited on the President on the 1st of Ele- 
venth month last, in behalf of the New York Indians, 

Respectfully represent: 

That in pursuance of their object, as expressed in their let- 
ter to the President, dated Eleventh month 4, 1839, they have 
taken such measures to ascertain facts, in relation to the exe- 
cution of the amended treaty with the Seneca nation, as may 
assist the President to form a just conclusion on the subject. 
In our interview with the President, we understood him dis- 
tinctly to say, that if he should be fully assured that a majority 
of their chiefs had not fairly signed that treaty, or authorized 
others to sign it on their behalf, he should not think himself at 
liberty to ratify it. The committees of those Yearly meetings 
were already convinced, from a great mass of testimony of un- 
questionable character, that such majority had never so signed 
that instrument ; but in order more fully to substantiate that 
opinion, they resolved, by a special mission, to investigate the 
subject in a more formal manner. To be prepared for such an 
investigation, they addressed a letter to the Secretary of War, 



33 

requesting him to lumish them with the names of all the chiefs 
attached to the treaty as amended. With this request he kind- 
ly complied, and by letter dated " Office of Indian Affairs, 
Washington, November 22, 1839," a list of those names was 
furnished the committees. Thus prepared, our friend Griffith 
M. Cooper, on our behalf, proceeded to the city of Buffalo, 
and opened to a few of the chiefs the nature of his errand. 
Wishing to forward the object of his mission, they called a 
council, and invited him to be present. A full examination 
of all matters connected with that object was then made ; and 
after a laborious investigation, the following results were ob- 
tained, which we now lay before the President. 

It appears, by reference to the amended treaty, that forty- 
one names are attached to it, as chiefs of the Seneca nation. 
Of these, there are six who were not then, nor are they now 
chiefs. Their names are as follows, to wit : Reuben Pierce, 
Jim Jonas, John Gordon, Charles Graybeard, John Hutchin- 
son, and Charles F. Pierce. 

The first two of these have never held any higher station 
than " runners." For evidence of this fact, we refer the Pre- 
sident to the affidavit of Seneca White, dated December 11, 
1839. 

That the aforesaid six Indians never were considered chiefs 
of the Seneca nation, and therefore had no authority or right, 
according to the laws or customs of the confederation, to sign 
any treaty whatever, is shown by the affidavit of sixty-seven 
chiefs, sworn before H. A. Salisbury, commissioner of deeds 
sor Erie county, dated December 11, 1839. 

John Gordon, one of the said six Indians, swears that he 
never was a chief. See affidavit dated December 11, 1839. 

There are six other names of chiefs attached to the treaty, 
who solemnly swear that they never signed it, nor in any way 
authorized others to sign it on their behalf, to wit : John Tall- 
chief, John General, Major Jack Berry, Samuel Wilson, John 
Bark, and Sky Carrier. See documents now in the Office of 
Indian Aflfairs at Washington. 
5 



34 

From the forty-one names attached to the amended treaty, 
deduct the aforesaid twelve, and there remain but twenty-nine 
names. 
The emigration party say, there are in the Seneca nation — 

lawful chiefs 81 

Of these, six, who have signed the amended treaty, are 

denied to be such by the non-emigration party, upon 

grounds before stated. -----. 6 

Leaving undisputed chiefs . - _ . - 75 
The non-emigration party say, there are in the nation — 

lawful chiefs - 91 

Of these, sixteen are denied to be such by their opponents 16 

Leaving, as before, undisputed chiefs - - - 75 

Of these undisputed chiefs, only twenty-nine have signed 
the amended treaty; leaving of undisputed chiefs a- 
gainst it -------- 46 

Showing a majority against the treaty of - - - 17 
If all are admitted to be chiefs who are claimed by both 

parties, they amount to 97 

Of these, forty-one appear as sanctioning the treaty - 41 
Leaving a majority against the treaty of - - - 16 
But of the forty-one whose names appear upon the treaty, 
there are six who swear they never, in any way, sanc- 
tioned the treaty — deducting these, the majority would 

be 21 

If all are admitted to be chiefs who are claimed by both par- 
ties, the whole number, as above shown, is ninety-seven ; and 
a majority of this number is forty-nine. As only forty-one 
chiefs signed the treaty, it is clear that a majority did not 
sign it. 

If, on the other hand, we reject the disputed chiefs, we find 
the number remaining to be seventy-five. In the 41, who are 



35 

alledged to have signed the treaty, are the names of 12 dis- 
puted, chiefs ; leaving 29 who are not disputed, and who, of 
course, are not a majority of 75. 

From this statement, it appears that, whether we try the 
issue upon the admission of all the chiefs claimed by both par- 
ties — and if they be admitted in one case, they must, in equity, 
be so in both — or whether we try it by admitting those only 
who are acknowledged by each party ; in neither case will it 
be found that a majority of the chiefs have signed the treaty. 

In our former communication we stated to the President that, 
out of a population of 2,505 Indians, men, women, and chil- 
dren, belonging to the Seneca nation, only 146 were professed- 
ly willing to remove. This fact shows that some powerful 
motive has been in operation upon many of the chiefs, in- 
ducing them to violate the will of the people, which, in duty, 
they were bound to consult. To that motive we distinctly 
pointed in our former memorial. 

That the emigration party do not wish to remove, appears 
from the fact, that they have, in many cases, (probably in all,) 
by contracts with the pre-emption claimants, secured a home 
for life on the lands they now occupy. 

In the council held by Commissioner R. H. Gillet, in the 
year 1838, although it was protracted for about four weeks, 
only fourteen acknowledged chiefs openly signed the amended 
treaty. All the other signatures were either obtained private- 
ly, or attached to it without the consent of the chiefs, whose 
signatures they purport to be, or they were the signatures of 
persons who were not chiefs. 

We hope and trust that when the President shall have con- 
sidered these facts, and others exhibited in the various docu- 
ments presented on this subject, he will see sufficient cause to 
withhold his assent to a treaty, which, if carried into into effect 
under present circumstances, can hardly fail to exasperate a 
great majority of the nation, and may finally lead them to war 
and bloodshed among: themselves. 




36 

Signed on behalf of said committees- 

GRIFFITH M. COOPER, Genessee. 

ABRM. BELL, 

DOBEL BAKER, 

SAMUEL SMITH, 

THOMAS CARPENTER, 

WM. WHARTON, 

GEO. M. JUSTICE, 

JOAN U. BUNTING, 

JOSEPH WARNER, 

BENJ. FERRIS, 

P. E. THOMAS, 

WM. E. BARTLETT, 

JACOB LAFETRA, 

PHINEAS JANNEY. 
Washington, First month 29, 1840. 

When the delegation arrived at the Seat of Government they 
were informed by the Secretary of War that the President had 
returned the treaty once more to the Senate. Friends had 
now a cheering hope that, with the great mass of evidence of 
unquestionable character, in their possession, they might induce 
the Senate to reject an instrument, purporting to be a treaty, 
which that evidence proved to be deeply tainted with fraud. 

By the Message of the President transmitting to the Senate 
that document, it appeared, that in his judgment the most ob- 
jectionable circumstances urged by Friends to invalidate 
it were well founded. The message was dated January 13th, 
1840. In it the President expressly declared, that " the reso- 
lution of the Senate of the 1 1th of June, 1838, requiring the 
assent of each tribe of Indians, to the amended treaty, to be 
given in council, had not been complied with, as it respects the 
Seneca tribe.'' Referring to the council held by the Secretary 
of War at Cattaraugus in the Eighth month, 1839, he de- 
clared that "no advance towards obtaining the assent of the 
Seneca tribe to the amended treaty, in council was made; nor 
can the assent of a majority of them in council, be now ob- 
tained.'' Alluding to the charge of bribery, he said, " that 



37 

improper means have been employed, to obtain the assent of 
the Seneca chiefs, there is every reason to believe : and I have 
not been able to satisfy myself, that I can, consistently with 
the resolution of the Senate of the 2d of March, 1839, cause 
the treaty to be carried into effect, in respect to the Seneca 
tribe." 

When the delegation found that the treaty had been returned 
to the Senate, with such a sentence of condemnation against 
it, as all upright men might reasonably suppose, would sink it 
into oblivion, they could not but hope that such a body as the 
Senate of the United States would immediately reject it. Three 
of the most prominent and important points urged by Friends 
against that spurious document, had been sustained by the Pre- 
sident. The conditions on which alone it could be ratified " not 
complied with," — a majority of the chiefs not sanctioning it, 
and that majority "not to be obtained" by the Secretary of 
War, purposely delegated to wait on them for that purpose ; — 
and finally "improper means," that is, in plain language bri- 
bery, employed to obtain the assent of the Indians to its rati 
ficat.ion. 

Such was the situation of the concern when the delegation 
arrived at Washington on the 28th of the First month, 1840. 
After presenting the foregoing memorial to the President of the 
United States, and finding the treaty, once more before the 
Senate, it was thought proper, to present to that body a memo- 
rial, which had been previously prepared for the occasion ; it 
is as follows : 

To the Senate of the United Stales, 

The memorial of the Joint Committees of the four Yearly 

meetings of Friends of Genessee, New York, Philadelphia, 

and Baltimore. 
Respectfully represents : 

That, ever since the settlement of Pennsylvania by William 
Penn, the Society of Friends have held the most friendly in- 
tercouse with the natives of our country. A friendship, arising 



38 

from a reciprocation of benefits, has been maintained between 
them, without any interruption. It is now more than forty 
years since that society formed estabhshments on some of the 
reservations in the western part of New York. These estab- 
lishments, having for their object the instruction of the Indians, 
in agriculture and the arts, with a view to their civilization, 
have been maintained at great expense of money, time, and 
labor, which have had the effect to secure their confidence, 
and to cause them, when under difficulty or embarrassment, to 
apply to Friends for counsel and assistance. It is under these 
circumstances, and at their request, that we now appear before 
you. 

A treaty made with the Indian tribes in that region, in the 
year 1838, was submitted to the Senate. With a view to pro- 
tect and secure these Indians irom improper influence, that 
body amended the treaty by making several important addi- 
tions to it, and then passed the following resolution, to wit : 

" Resolved, That this treaty shall have no force or effect 
whatsoever, as it relates to any of said tribes, nations, or bands 
of New York Indians ; nor shall it be understood that the Se- 
nate have assented to any of the contracts connected with it, 
until the same, with the amendments herein proposed, is sub- 
mitted and fully explained by a commissioner of the United 
States, to each of said tribes or bands, separately assembled in 
council, and they have given their Jree and voluntary assent 
thereto. And if one or more ot said tribes or bands, when 
consulted as aforesaid, shall freely assent to said treaty as 
amended, and to their contract as connected therewith, it shall 
be binding and obligatory," &c. 

To your memorialists, it appears the Senate intended Ihat the 
execution of the said amended treaty, as well as its explanation, 
should be done in open council. This course indeed was ne- 
cessary, in order to fulfil the honorable intentions of the Se- 
nate, and, we may add, in order to make the treaty valid, ac- 
cording to the laws and customs of one of the contracting par- 
ties. For, with these Indians, it is an established rule, that the 



39 

chiefs, out of council, have no more power to make contracts 
by treaty, than any other individual of the nation, unless when 
that power has been conferred upon them by the voice of the 
people in council assembled. 

If, by directing that the treaty, as amended, should be "fully 
explained" in council, the Senate intended to prevent fraud 
and imposition, that intention would be wholly defeated by 
permitting a private execution of it ; for we think it must be ap- 
parent that a private execution of the treaty opens a wider door 
for corruption and fraud than a. private explanation of it. The 
truth of this conclusion, we believe, will be manifest to the 
Senate, by adverting to facts, proved by the various documents 
accompanying the treaty, as transmitted by the Executive. 

In the resolution of the Senate, before quoted, there is no 
permission given for di private execution of the amended treaty, 
nor is there any allusion to such a mode of expressing the as- 
sent of the Indians to that instrument. It would seem that the 
commissioner at first understood the resolution as we do; for 
after making the necessary explanations of the amendments in 
open council, and protracting its sessions for about four weeks, 
he only obtained sixteen signatures, two of which were of per- 
sons who were not chiefs. It was not until after he had failed 
in this mode to obtain a majority, that he resorted to the other, 
of which the Indians so much complain. By what authority 
he proceeded to obtain signatures in private, your memorialists 
have never been informed. 

To us, it appears that the language of the resolution admits 
of but one construction, and conia.ms positive testimony in favor 
of our position, that the Senate intended that the treaty should be 
executed openly in council. The Indians were to be assembled 
in council; it was to be fully explained to them in council; 
they were to be " consulted'' in council ; and freely to assent 
to its provisions in council. It seems to us that all these trans- 
actions were intended to be simultaneous, and all done in open 
council. Had the commissioner acted upon these views, great 
difficulties and much trouble would have been prevented. 



40 

This will abundantly appear by reference to the voluminous 
documents on this subject, already transmitted to the Senate, 
or yet remaining in the Indian Department; documents which, 
we think, will very clearly show the dangerous consequences 
of permitting solemn treaties to be executed in a private and 
clandestine manner. 

The commissioner, finding the open mode of obtaining signa- 
tures to fail, proceeded to take them privately. And now a 
scene opened, perhaps unparalleled in the annals of negotia- 
tion. The means used to betray an ignorant and confiding 
people will be laid before the Senate; means which, if success- 
ful, might subject our Government to the suspicion of conniving 
at fraud, and thus tarnish the character of our country. 

In the prosecution o{ thh private course, fifteen more names 
were added to the treaty ; now making thirty-one. Thus sign- 
ed, it was transmitted to the Executive, who, not satisfied that 
the requisitions of the Senate had been compUed with, refused 
to sanction it ; upon which, the commissioner, returning to 
the Seneca nation, privately obtained ten more names, by 
which the number was augmented to " forty-one." In this 
state it was laid before the Senate. Its Committee on Indian 
Affairs, after a laborious investigation, and hearing testimony 
on behalf of both parties, made a report, in which they say : 
" This number has been increased by three additional names, 
which have been forwarded since the treaty has been under 
consideration, which increases the number of those who have 
assented, to forty-four. If these ' forty-four' had signed the 
amended treaty in open council, the committee would consider 
that the requirements of the Senate had been complied with, 
at least loith the appearance of having a majority. But it is 
vain to contend that the signatures of the last ten, which were 
obtained on the second mission, or of the three who have sent 
on their assent lately, is such a signing as was contemplated by 
the resolution of the Senate." 

With these views your memorialists entirely coincide. Since 
that report, no action has been had in relation to the treaty, 



41 

rendering this conclusion inapplicable to the case. The treaty 
remains as it then was, with " with forty-one" signatures. If 
the conclusion of the committee was then correct, and applica- 
ble to the circumstances stated, it is equally so now ; and its 
execution is still not -mch "as was contemplated by the resolu- 
tion of the Senate." 

But since that able and lucid report was made to the Senate, 
other facts and circumstances, then unknown to that commit- 
tee, have been brought to hght, demonstrating the truth of its 
statements and the correctness of its reasoning. With these 
we shall not now trouble the Senate, but refer it, for proof ot 
our assertions, to the documents before mentioned. 

The natives on the four reservations yet in the tenure of the 
Seneca Indians, are a remnant of the powerful confederation 
of the Six Nations, which, since the landing of our forefathers, 
have swayed the sceptre of authority over the northern part of 
this continent. They are nearly the last of the aboriginal race 
who are left east of the Mississippi, to tell the sad tale of Euro- 
pean treachery, — of the vices and the butcheries which have 
reduced them to weakness and poverty. The lands they now 
occupy are a small residue of their once vast territories. These 
lands, by the authority of our Government, have been solemnly 
guarantied to them, to be held in peace, and without molesta- 
tion, for ever, or until they shall freely and voluntarily relin- 
quish the same. That time has not yet come. Out of 2,505 In- 
dians remaining on these reservations, only 146 are consenting to 
remove. Their progress in civihzation and the arts of life, made 
within a few years, have been unparalleled in any former time. 
The Society of Friends have long had, and still have, a settle- 
ment among them, and agents to instruct them in letters, in 
agriculture, and in mechanical employments. These attempts 
have been successful beyond our expectations, although much 
impeded by the unsettlement, arising from frequent efforts, on 
the part of the whites, to obtain possession of their lands. 
Were such interference entirely to cease, we have no doubt 
heir improvement would be greatly accelerated, and the time 
6 



42 

would be hastened wlien we might point to at least one suc- 
cessful experiment for the complete civilization of our native 
red men. Protection from such interfence is all we ask from 
the Government ; and from the honorable course it has hitherto 
pursued in relation to the late treaty, we hope and trust that 
our present application will not be in vain. 

Signed on behalf of the said committees, 

GRIFFITH M. COOPER, Genessee, 

ABRAHAM BELL, ^ 

DOBEL BAKER, ! ^^^ York 

SAMUEL SMITH, f 

THOMAS CARPENTER, J 

JOHN H. BUNTING, 

BENJAMIN FERRIS, 



JOSEPH WARNER, f Pht/adelphia. 

WILLIAM WHARTON, 
P. E. THOMAS, 
JACOB LAFETRA, 
ISAAC TYSON, 
MOSES SHEPPARD, 
JOHN GILLINGHAM, 
WM. E. BARTLETT, 
Washington, First, month 29, 1840." 



1 
I 

> Baltimore. 



It was with the utmost surprise and grief, the committees 
afterwards learned, that on the 25th of the Third month, 1840, 
by a vote of nineteen for the treaty, together with the casting 
vote of Richard M. Johnson, then its speaker, against nineteen, 
who voted against the it, the Senate had sanctioned that docu- 
ment as the true and approved contract between the United 
States and the Seneca nation, by which, as it was alledged the 
Indians had fairly alineated all their lands in the State of New 
York to the Ogden Land Company, and had agreed to expa- 
triate themselves from the country of their forefathers, into a 
dreary inhospitable and sickly wilderness ; with no other pros- 
pect than a miserable existence, or the more desirable alterna- 
tive, a speedy death ! 

As soon as the committees were iulormcd of this decision of 



43 

tlie Senate, they sent a deputation again to wait un tlie Presi- 
dent, to remonstrate against its ratification by him, as one 
branch of the treaty — making power, and to remind him of the 
assurance he had given us, that " if a majority of the Indian 
chiefs, had not fairly signed that treaty, or authorized others to 
sign it on their behalf, he should not think himself at liberty to 
ratify it." That deputation, in fulfiling the object of their ap- 
pointment, again laid before the President incontestable evidence 
of its fraudulent character, and urged him to withhold from it his 
sanction. In reply the President stated, that having returned 
the treaty with his objections to the Senate, and that body on 
further investigation, having ratified it, he had felt himself un- 
der an obligation to confirm it, and that he had accordingly 
signed it, and given orders that it should be proclaimed as the 
law of the land. 

The delegation were under the circumstances but little pre- 
pared to expect such a result, and before they withdrew, re- 
marked, that " with the abundant evidence furnished, exposing 
the very improper means by which the treaty had been pro- 
cured, they could not but lament this issue. They however 
had the consolation to know, that Friends had done all in their 
power to prevent it • and concluded by observing, that the 
whole transaction was a very objectionable one, and that his- 
tory, the final arbiter of the actions of men would not fail to 
award to every individual, the verdict justly due to the part he 
may have taken in its consummation.". 

Notwithstanding this decision of the Government, and consi- 
dering the meagre majority by which the treaty had been car- 
ried through the Senate, the Joint Committee determined not 
to abandon the cause of those oppressed and injured Indians. 
It was known to Friends that the circumstances of the Seneca 
nation, and the base means used to defraud them of their lands, 
were not perfectly understood, by the citizens of New York, 
in the vicinity of the Indian reservations. Even the society we 
represented, we knew was very partially acquainted with the 
subject. The interest, of the Indians, and the character of our 



44 

country, were suifering, because facts intimately connected 
with botli, were wholly unknown to the public at large. The 
only party understanding these facts, was deeply interested in 
keeping them secret. Whatever of injury and wrong may be 
found in the rulers of the land, such evils are keenly felt and 
reprobated by the great mass of the people, and where there is 
no interest in concealment, the benevolent feelings will find 
means of expression. Under these impressions the Joint Com- 
mittees in the early part of the year 1840 determined to pub- 
lish a statement of the case of the Seneca Indians, for the in- 
formation of our own members — and, with the hope, that 
through them, at least, such information might be more gene- 
rally diffused. Accordingly the 29th of the Fifth month, in 
that year, at a meeting held in New York, a work was pro- 
duced entitled "The case of the Seneca Indians in the State of 
New York, illustrated by facts," which being approved, it was 
ordered that a suitable number should be printed. The good 
effect of this work was soon felt by the committee, in the more 
general interest and warm sympathy manifested for the objects 
of our care, both within the pale of our own society, and by the 
public at large. The "facts" disclosed, — the shameful frauds, 
the " wrongs and outrages" committed against a poor suffering 
defenceless people, being made known, the feelings of our fel- 
low-citizens were roused against the base conduct of their per- 
secutors; and these feelings were made manifest , by 

increased public interest, and the expression of that interest 
through the numerous channels opened by the press, as well 
as through other means of communication. 

At this same meeting information was received, that a dele- 
gation from the Seneca nation, desired an interview with 
Friends, to meet them at Farmington, during the week of Ge- 
nessee Yearly meeting. In compliance with this desire, six- 
teen of our number were nominated to confer with them. 

On the 17th of the Sixth month, five chiefs and two inter- 
preters met the committee at Farmington, and after making 
several communications to Friends, the meeting adjourned to 



45 

assemble again the next day. On the 18th the parties again mot. 
The late action of the Government had thrown the whole Indian 
nation into the utmost distress. Friends felt deeply their afflic- 
tions, but could then see nothing to advise them, except to re- 
main peaceably at home, to till their land as usual and take care 
of their families. On the 19th the head or chief Sachem of the 
Seneca nation and several other Indians arrived. We had a 
meeting on that day with seven chiefs and two interpreters. 
They presented us with the following address from the Tone- 
wanda tribe. 

To the members of the Committees on Indian concei-ns for the 

Religious Society of Friends about to meet at Farmingfon. 
Brothers, 

We whose names are signed to this paper, belong to that 
portion of the Seneca nation of Indians that reside at Tone- 
wanda. 

By the help of the Great Spirit, we have met in open coun- 
cil this 23d day of Fifth month, 1840, for the purpose of de- 
liberating on the right course for us to pursue under the recent 
act of the Government of the United States, relating to our 
lands. 

Brothers. We are in trouble. VVe have been told that 
our land was sold. We again solicit your advice and your 
sj'-mpathy. 

Under the accumulating difficulties and trials that now seem 
to surround us, we feel more than ever our need of the help of 
the Great and Good Spirit to guide us aright. May his coun- 
sel ever guide and direct us all in true wisdom. It is known 
to you, brothers, that at difierent times our nation has been in- 
duced to cede by stipulated treaty to the United States, various 
tracts of our territory, until it is now so small that it only affords 
us a home. 

We hoped by those liberal concessions to secure the quiet 
and unmolested occupancy of this small residue. But we 
have abundant reason to fear that we have been mistaken. 



46 

The Agent and Surveyor of a company of land speculators, 
Icnown as the " Ogden Company," have been on here, to lay 
out our land, for the purpose of selling it off. We have pro- 
tested against their proceeding, and have forbid them until 
after a general council to be held at Buffalo in four days. 

Brothers. What we want is that you should intercede with 
the United States Government in our behalf. We want you 
to know, and we want the government and people of the Uni- 
ted States to know, in the first place, that we have never signed 
a treaty to give up our lands. 

That of the six hundred Indians who compose this tribe, one 
Indian only has signed it, and he resides at Buffalo. 

That this treaty, which we are told has been ratified by Pre- 
sident Van Buren, we know and are sure is a fraudulent one. 

That Ransom H. Gillet, the government's agent, violated the 
good faith of the government and a law respecting the ratifica- 
tion of treaties, by applying to Indians at their houses, some of 
them upon their sick beds ; also on the highways and at taverns, 
and offering them money if they would sign said treaty. 

That in the general council convened at Buffalo, for the ex- 
press pui-jwse of considering this treaty, sixteen chiefs only 
were in favor of signing it, and sixty-four were decidedly op- 
posed to it. 

That Jimmy Johnson, the head chief of the Seneca nation, 
never signed that treaty, and the putting ot his name to the 
treaty, whether by the agent or some one else, was a forgery. 

Brothers. We want the President to know that we are for 
peace, and that we only ask the possession of our rights. 

True we are small in number, but we only ask for justice. 
We want to be allowed to live on our land in peace. We love 
Tonewanda. We have no wish to leave it. Jt is the residue 
of the land of our fathers. Here we wish to lay our bones 
in peace. 

Will our brothers inform us whether General Dearborn in 
signing this treaty, intended that all the lands belonging to this 
nation were included in it, or only the lands belonging lo those 



47 

tliat signed it ; we are willing that the emigration parly should 
sell their land, but we are not willing that they should sell ours. 
Will our brothers also inform us whether the Governor of 
Massachusetts has ever signed this treaty. 

Brothers. We are determed to keep our lands till our friends 
send us information and advice, which we want immediately. 
We want the surveyors to be kept from our land. 

Brothers. In conclusion we thank you for your friendly as- 
sistance heretofore, and earnestly solicit your further advice 
and assistance. 

Signed. 

JOHN LUKE, formerly head chief, his x mark. 

JOHN BLACKSMITH, chief, his x mark. 

JIMMY JOHNSON, present head chief, his x mark. 

BLUE SKY, chief, his x mark. 

BLACK CHIEF, chief, his x mark. 

JOHN SKY, chief, his x mark.- 

JESSE TIFFINY, chief, his x mark. 

JOHN BIGFIRE, chief, his x mark. 

WM. WASHINGTON, chief, his x mark. 

LEWIS POODRY, chief, his x mark. 

SAMUEL PARKER, chief, his x mark. 

WILLIAM JAMES, chief, his x mark. 

ISAAC SHANKS, chief, his x mark 

DANIEL SPRING, chief, his x mark, 

JESSE SPRING, chief, his x mark. 

LEWIS KENEDY, chief, his x mark. 

THOMAS JEMISON, > , f ♦ 
WILLIAM CLINT, S ^^^^^'■^^^^^• 

ASA CARRINGTON, ) „,., 

Witnesses. 



STEPHEN ATWATER, 



The foregoing appeal to the committee, being deliberately 
considered, the following address to the Seneca nation was 
agreed on, and was read and interpreted to the chiefs then 
present. 



48. 

To the Seneca Malion of Indians in the State of Jfew Yorkj 
Brothers, 

At our meeting the day before yesterday with the delegates 
of the Seneca nation, they informed us that they wished to 
have our advice in relation to their present distressing circum- 
stances. 

Brothers. The friends you see before you, are a delegation 
from the four Yearly Meetings of Genesee, New York, Philadel- 
phia,|and Baltimore. Many of us have travelled several hundred 
miles to come and see you, and to talk with you, and to confer 
together, with prayer, that the Great Spirit might give us wis- 
dom, and light, that we might find out, and see plainly, the 
right path for us and you to walk in. 

Brothers. We have considered your request that we would 
give you council and advice. We have looked all around us 
for a right way, and and a safe path for the Indians to walk in, 
and we now give you our advice. You say that the Seneca 
nation has not sold its lands. You assure us that the treaty 
lately ratified by the Senate of the United States, was not exe- 
cuted according to the conditions solemly adopted and pres- 
cribed by that body. You say that it was not signed by a 
majority of your lawful chiefs. You have told us that many 
who did sign it, were bribed by large sums of money, to induce 
them thus to act, contrary to the will of your people ; you also 
tell us that some of the names signed to the treaty are forge- 
ries ; and that under these circumstances you are not willing to 
leave your lands, which the Great Spirit gave you, and which 
the Government of the United States, by treaties with your 
people, have assured to you in the most solemn manner. 

Brothers. We have understood that notwithstanding all that 
you say, and which we believe to be true, the Senate of the 
United States has ratified the treaty, and that the President has 
proclaimed it as the law of the land. 

Brothers. We cannot advise you to resist by force, even an 
unjust decree. To do so would be wrong. That path is a 



49 

bloody path, it is strewed with the dead and the dying. The 
Great Spirit leads none of his children in that path. 

Brothers, listen. The Great Spirit loves quiet, peaceful chil- 
dren, and when they walk in his path, he is always near them 
— he hears all their crying — he sees all their afflctions and 
distress, and in his own time, which is the best time, he sends 
them relief in his own way, which is the best way. 

Brothers. We think it best for you, at this time, to remain 
peaceably and quietly on your land, keep as much as possible at 
your homes, till your ground, take care of your stock, provide 
for your families — let your children be taught useful learning — 
As much asposible live peaceably with all men. 

Brothers. The Society of Friends have felt much sympathy 
with your people, — we have heard with great pain of the 
wrongs and injuries which have been heaped upon you. 
We have seen your tears, and we have wept for you. We 
have remembered the kindness of your fathers to our fathers 
when you were a strong people, and we were few in number, 
and very weak : and we now wish to do all we can to help you. 
We have at this time concluded to address the Governor of 
Massachusetts, the Governor of New York, and the House of 
Representatives of the United States, on your behalf. 

Brothers. We now bid you farewell : and in doing so, we 
wish to inform you that, we will not forget our red bretheren, 
but intend, with the help of the Great Spirit, to continue our 
efforts to aid them, and to promote their present and future 
welfare 

Signed by the delegates from the committees of the four 
Yearly Meetings aforesaid, 

DOBEL BAKER, GRIFFITH M. COOPER, 

WILLIAM WHARTON, WM. S. BURLING, 

BENJ. FERRIS, ABM. BELL, 

GEORGE M. JUSTICE. NATHANIEL STARBUCK, 

JOSEPH WARNER, RACHEL HICKS, Jr. 

PHILIP E. THOMAS, MARIA FARRINGTON, 

JNO. GILLINGHAM. DOROTHY GOLDEN, 

DEBORAH WHARTON, 
Farminglon, JV. Y., Sixtli month 19, 1810, 
7 



50 

Having in the foregoing communication expressed to the 
Indians our intention of addressing the Governors of New York 
and Massachusetts, and memorializing the House of Represen- 
tatives of the United States, on their behalf, and sub-commit- 
tees having been appointed for that purpose, the following do- 
cuments were prepared, which they were requested to present, 
in comformi^y with the conclusion of the joint committees. 

Memoranda for the use of the Committee appointed to wait on 
the Governor of the State of Mew York. 

The committee to wait on the Governor of New York, are 
desired to represent to him the distressed situation of the In- 
dians, and earnestly to invoke his interposition for their relief, 
as far as he can constitutionally exercise his authority. They 
will also represent to him that, as under the treaty, the Indians 
have five years allowed them to depart, they certainly should, 
during that time remain unmolested ; yet already they are har- 
rassed by injunctions interrupting their business, and disturbed 
by surveyors running lines over their lands, and dividing it off 
into lots. Amongst other instances of vexatious annoyance, 
one of their most respectable chiefs has been interrupted from 
completing an improvement he was making on his own house. 

These proceedings naturally keep them in a state of aggra- 
vated excitement, and may lead to violence. It is supposed 
that as the State of Massachusetts did, in the agreement made 
relating to these lands, now occupied by the Indians, acknow- 
ledge that the absolute right of sovereignty and jurisdiction 
over them, was in the State of New York, its executive au- 
thority has the legal power to extend to the Indians, the same 
protection that is accorded to the inhabitants of any other part 
of the State. 

And the Governor's attention is requested to the deed of 
sale — that he may consider whether the Tuscaroras can convey 
their lands, purchased with their own money, without the con- 
sent of the Gouernment of New York ; and whether a fraudu- 



51 

lent deed, obtained of the Senecas, may not be set aside, the 
fraud being proved. 

To the Governor and Council of the State of Massachusetts, the 
Memorial of the Subscribers, on behalf of the Joint Commit- 
tees of the Four Yearly Meetings of Friends of Genessee, 
Jfew York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, respectfully repre- 
sent that, 

When the agreement or compromise was concluded, in the 
year 1786, between the States of New York and Massachu- 
setts, in relation to their respective claims to certain lands in 
the former State, the worthy Representatives of the latter, most 
benevolently provided, that no purchase of those lands, or any 
part of them, from the Indians, should be valid "unless the 
same shall be made in the presence of, and approved by, a 
Superintendent, to be appointed for such purpose, by the Com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts, having no interests in such pur- 
chase, and be confirmed by the Commonwealth of Massachu- 
setts." 

Thus, at the time, and by the instrument of agreement, in 
which Massachusetts parted with her right of sovereignty over 
the Indian lands, she expressly reserved to herself a right to 
guard and protect the poor unlettered natives, from the arts 
and the frauds of those who might be disposed to wrong them. 
This right to guard and protect the weak and defenceless abori- 
gines, she has, with a laudable zeal, constantly claimed and 
most benevolently exercised from that time to the present. 

When the deeds of sale from the Seneca and Tuscarora In- 
dians, to Ogden Sc Fellows, bearing date January 15th, 1838, 
were sanctioned by the Governor and Council of Massachu- 
setts, it was not known to them that these contracts were ob- 
tained by unfair means, or, it is fair to conclude, that they 
would never have sanctioned them. 

The Indians charge the other parties to these contracts with 
bribery, menace, forgery and falsehood, and so strong and am- 
ple have been the proofs adduced to support these charges, 



52 

that the late Committee of the Senate of tlie United States, in 
their report to that body in the early part of the present year, 
unanimously recommended the rejection of the treaty, — (Pro- 
ceedings of Senate, March 5th, 1840.) 

The President of the United States, in his Message to the 
Senate, dated January 13, 1840, returning again the treaty to 
that body, declares that " the provision of the resolution of the 
Senate of the 11th of June, 1838, requiring the assent of each 
of the said tribes of Indians to the amended treaty, to be given 
in council, and which was also made a condition, precedent to 
the recommendation to me of the Senate, of the 2d of March, 
1839, to carry the same into effect, has not therefore been 
complied with." The President, in the same Message, also 
declares, that in a council held with the Indians last summer 
by the Secretary of War, " no advance towards obtaining the 
assent of the Seneca tribe, to the amended treaty, was made, 
nor can the assent of a majority of them in council, be now 
obtained." In allusion to the charge of bribery, the President 
says " That improper means have been employed (to obtain 
flie assent of the Seneca chiefs to the amended treaty) there is 
every reason to believe ; and I have not been able to satisfy 
myself that I can, consistently with the resolution of the Se- 
nate, of the 2d of March, 1839, cause the treaty to be carried 
into effect, in respect to the Seneca tribe." 

Had all the circumstances of fraud and unfairness been de- 
veloped to the Governor and Council of Massachusetts which 
have since come to light, it is presumed that as the lawful 
guardians of those Indians, the deeds conveying their lands 
would not have been sanctioned. 

That the assent to the amended treaty was to have been 
given in council, is clear from the plain words of the Senate's 
resolution of June 1 1th, 1838, and in the deed which was 
sanctioned as aforesaid, it is declared, that the treaty was held 
in council, and that then the chiefs and head men on behalf 
of the Seneca nation did agree to sell. Whereas it has 
since been discovered, that the deed was not agreed to 



53 

in council, and it has been ascertained by two several (Cen- 
suses, that not one-fifteenth part of the nation are in favor of 
the sale. The truth is, that neither the treaty nor the deeds 
have been legally or faijly obtained. 

The treaty of January 15, 1838, and the deeds before alluded 
to, bearing the same date, were originally connected together, 
and formed together one great plan for removing the Indians 
out of the State of New York. The treaty provided a home for 
them beyond the Mississippi : the deeds provided for the re- 
linquishment of their lands to the Ogden Land Company. 
Thus connected, Massachusetts ratified the deeds. But after- 
wards the treaty and the contracts of sale were submitted to the 
Senate ; and that body found the treaty so defective that they 
refused to ratify it, and afterwards so thoroughly changed it, 
that in the language of the distinguished Senator, then Chair- 
man of the Indian committee, "they'made nearly a new treaty 
of it." 

The Senate then adopted a resolution declaring, that the 
treaty, as amended, should have no force or effect. Nor should 
it be understood that the Senate had consented to any of the 
contracts connected with it, " meaning the deeds which had 
been before ratified by Massachusetts," until the same had 
been submitted and fuUy and fairly explained to each of said 
tribes or bands separately assembled in council, and they had 
given their free and voluntary assent thereto." 

In pursuance of this resolution, the treaty was afterwards 
submitted to the Indians in council, and after being explained, 
only 16 out of 81 chiefs would sign it; but more than 60 of 
them, in presence of the Commissioner from Massachusetts, 
signed a formal dissent and protest against it, which was wit- 
nessed by General Dearborn. 

The deeds of conveyance, or contracts as they are called, 
were never afterwards laid before the Indians, as directed by 
the Senate. Nor was an assent to them as connected with the 
amended Treaty, ever obtained by the Seneca Nation : so that 



54 

the sanction of Massachusetts was never given to a sale of the 
Indian Lands under the amended treaty ; which we think is 
essential to the validity of the sale, and which we also think 
Massachusetts, as the undoubted guardian of that people against 
all fraudulent transfers of their land, has a right to demand. 
Massachusetts might very consistently sanction a deed of sale 
connected with the provisions of one treaty, which she might 
very properly reject connected with a Treaty of a different 
character. Governor Everett, in this view of the subject, de- 
clared, that " unless the amendments made to the treaty, and 
which had changed its character, were assented to by the In- 
dians, he should consider the contracts for the sale of their 
right of possession null and void." 

We therefore respectfully ask of the Governor and Council 
of the State of Massachusetts, that they would take the subject 
into their solemn consideration, and take such measures in the 
case, as they in their wisdom may deem expedient, and as the 
guardians of the Indians as aforesaid, they consider their duty 
demands. 

Signed on behalf of the said committees. 

BENJ. FERRIS, 
ABM. BELL, 
AMOS WILLETS. 

Jfew York, Sixth month 25th, 1840. 



The Joint Committees seeing no prospect of arresting the 
the threatened destruction of the Seneca nation, by any inter- 
ference of the Executive or Senate of the United States, had 
concluded to appeal to the House of Representatives, and re- 
quest that body to withhold the appropriations necessary to 
carry into effect the objectionable treaty. The following me- 
morial being prepared, was presented to the House. It re- 
ceived its respectiul attention, was ordered to be printed, and 
in conformity with our petition no appropriation was made. 



55 

To the House of Representatives of the United States, 

The memorial of the several committees on Indian concerns, 
appointed by the four Yearly Meetings of Friends of Genessee, 
New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, respectfully represents, 

That the Society of Friends, from a religious concern for the 
welfare of the Indians in the State of New York, have for 
many years been engaged in promoting their civilization and 
improvement. Under this concern we have had establish- 
ments among them, and agents residing on some of their Re- 
servations, to instruct them in agriculture, and other arts of civi- 
lized life. It is by their desire we now solicit your attention. 

These Reservations being the small remnants of their once 
extensive territory, were by a treaty, made between the Six 
Nations and our Government, in the year 1794, solemnly guar- 
antied to them and their descendants, as a home and inherit- 
ance for ever. 

As the white population of our countiy extended their set- 
tlements towards these Reservations, they became enhanced in 
value, exciting the cupity of land speculators, and urging 
them by various means to remove the Indians, in order to pos- 
sess themselves of their lands. 

Alarmed and agitated by these movements, the Seneca and 
Onondaga Indians, applied to our government for its interposi- 
tion and protection, in fulfilment of the guaranty stipulated in 
the said recited treaty. Faithful to its contract, and prompt in 
the performance of it, a proclamation was immediately issued 
by the authority of the President of the United States, under 
the hand of H. Dearborn, then Secretary of War, dated March 
17th, 1802, strictly forbidding all persons, citizens of the Uni- 
ted States, to disturb the said Indians in the quiet possession of 
their lands. And declaring that "all lands claimed by and 
secured to the said Seneca and Onondaga Indians, by treaty, 
convention, deed of conveyance or reservation, being within 
the Umits of the United States, shall be and remain the pro- 
perty of the said Seneca and Onondaga Indians for ever, unless 
they shall voluntarily relinquish or dispose of the same," 



56 

Within the last ten years attempts have been renewed, and 
strenuous exertions made, to get possession of these lands. For 
this purpose no means which ingenuity could devise, or large 
pecuniary resources and untiring perseverance accomplish, 
have been unessayed. Under the operation of such powerful 
agents, a treaty has been procured, and executed, under cir- 
cumstances which we think ought to claim the serious atten- 
tion of our Representatives in Congress. That treaty, we most 
surely believe, is tainted W\\h fraud ; and if carried into effect, 
will be, not only extremely oppressive to the poor defenceless 
Indians, but injurious to the charactar of our country. 

The President of the United States, in his recent message to 
the Senate, dated January 13th, 1840, returning this same 
treaty to that body, says, " that imj)roper means have been em- 
ployed to obtain the assent of the Seneca chiefs, there is every 
reason to believe, and I have not been able to satisfy myself, 
that I can, consistently with the resolution of the Senate of the 
2d of March, 1839, cause the treaty to be carried into effect, 
in respect to the Seneca tribe." 

The committee of the Senate on Indian affairs, after a long 
and laborious investigation of the evidence before them, and of 
the facts and circumstances connected with the treaty, report- 
ed, it is understood, unanimously, against its ratification, on the 
ground that it had not been assented to by the said Indians, ac- 
cording to the terms of the resolution of the llth of June, 1838. 

The Senate finally ratified it, by the casting vote of the 
Speaker, in a thin house, only nineteen members voting in its 
favor. 

Although we believe there is ample evidence to prove the 
fraudulent character of this treaty, and that its execution will 
be grossly unjust and oppressive to the Seneca nation, yet it is 
far from our intention to throw the least censure on the Senate, 
or on any of its members. We are aware that the effects of 
testimony on the minds of men of unquestioned integrity, are 
very different; our object in soliciting the attention of the 



57 

House to the subject, is not to censure, but that the evidence in 
the case may be examined by your branch of the Legislature. 

By the Constitution of the United States, the treaty-making 
power is vested in the President and Senate. By the same 
constitution, no money can be drawn from the treasury but by 
appropriations made by law, and no law can be passed without 
the concurrence of both branches of the Legislature. Thus, 
over all treaties made by the President and Senate, the House 
of Representatives has a control, by the power it possesses un- 
der the Constitution of withholding the means to carry such 
treaties into effect. If, on an investigation of the treaty in 
question, and the circumstances attending its execution, the 
House shall be satisfied that it was not fairly obtained ; if it 
shall believe that to enforce it would be derogatory to the 
character of our country, as an honorable, just, and upright na- 
tion, it may refuse to grant the supplies necessary to carry it 
into effect, and thus save the country from the odium which 
must attach to any government that deliberately does wrong. 

There is one feature in the character of this negociation with 
the New York Indians, which we think ought to claim the 
particular attention of your body, as the guardians of the public 
treasure. By that treaty four hundred thousand dollars of the 
public money and one million eight hundred and twenty-four 
thousand acres of the public lands, are to be given to the New 
York Indians, as an inducement to relinquish their possessions 
in the State of New York, for the benefit of the Ogden Land 
Compamj. 

To your memorialists it appears that under this treaty, the 
Government gives away a vast amount of property, without 
any equivalent ! It may well be asked. What advantage can 
accrue to the public from the removal of the New York In- 
dians ? As it regards the people of the United States, under 
whose authority the treaty is said to be made, and from whose 
resources the means to carry it into effect are to be drawn, it 
may safely be answered, none. In a national point of view, it 
is a matter of perfect indifference whether the New York 
8 



58 

Indians remove or do not remove ! Why then should our re- 
presentatives appropriate such a vast amount of money and pro- 
perty to an object, in which the community has no interest ? 

AVe forbear to go further into the merits of the case. We 
would not unnecessarily take up the time of the House. We 
only ask for a thorough investigation of the subject, and that, if 
after such investigation it should appear that the treaty cannot 
be carried into effect, without injustice to an unoffending peo- 
ple, and an improper expenditure of the public treasure, the 
House may refuse to make any appropriation for that purpose. 
Signed on behalf of the said committees, 

BENJ. FERRIS, Clerk. 

Seventh month 8th, 1840. 

The committee appointed to prepare a memorial to the 
House of Representatives, believed it right at the same time 
to address a letter to the President of the United States, which 
they did, a copy of which is as foUows, to wit : 

To Martin Van Buren, President of the United States : 

Under the circumstances in which the Society of Friends, 
who for many years past had extended aid to the Indian na- 
tives residing in the western part of the state of New York, 
now find themselves placed, both as regards their existing re- 
lations with these Indians and their position towards the general 
government, the undersigned, on behalf of the committee who 
heretofore addressed the President of the United States, deem 
it respectful to the President fully to acquaint him with the 
measures taken by Friends in reference to these people, since 
the amended treaty with them was declared by the Senate to 
have been ratified, and has been proclaimed. 

On the annunciation to the Indians of this result, consterna- 
tion and gloom were every where spread over their villages. 
Relying upon the protection of the government and the justice 
of their cause, they were not, after the disclosures that had 
been made of means employed to obtain that treaty, prepared 



59 

for the issue, and, on being apprised of it, they manifested the 
deepest distress. In the pathetic language of one of their 
chiefs, addressed to us, " their women were seen on all sides 
weeping in their houses, along the roads as they passed to 
their occupations, and in the fields whilst employed in their 
labors." 

As soon as they had time for reflection, a general council 
was called for the purpose of taking into consideration their 
iituation, and, after much deliberation, they come, as we have 
been informed, to the conclusion, whatever might be the con- 
sequences, that they would in no event voluntarily remove to 
the country allotted for them west of the Mississippi, and that, 
if driven off by violence, they should accept the invitation 
they had received to join their friends in Canada, and remove 
there. 

Before dissolving the council, they agreed again to memo- 
rialize the executive of Massachusetts, and also of New York, 
and to petition Congress with the view of once more stating 
their grievances, and imploring relief so far as either of those 
authorities might yet be able and disposed to extend protection 
to them. They also solicited an interview with Friends, which 
was granted to them, and several of their chiefs, by arrange- 
ment, met our committee at Farmington, in the state of New 
York, on the seventeenth of last month, when, after making a 
full and unreserved disclosure to us of their present difficulties 
and purposes, they earnestly solicited our assistance and advice. 
On this occasion they reiterated their statements in regard to 
the means that had been taken to inveigle them out of their 
lands, their objections against removing to the country that had 
been designated for their residence beyond the river Mississip- 
pi — their intention never to abandon their present homes un- 
less compelled by force to do so, and their conclusion, should 
this be done, to retire into Canada, and join their nation there. 
The committee, after due consideration of the objections 
urged by the Indians to removing upon the lands that had been 
appropriated for them in the west, believing, as they did, that 



60 

these objections were well founded, could not advise them to 
go there, and for many grave reasons could not recommend 
them to go into Canada ; they therefore declined advising them 
to do either the one or the other, and addressed to them the 
following communication in reply to their application to us. 
[See address, pages 48, &c.] 

The committee are sensible of, and duly appreciate the very 
respectful attention which their applications to the President on 
behalf of these Indians have been received, and they feel it to be 
due to the President to give him such information as they pos- 
sess, and a full statement of the part taken by them in regard 
to this matter. They have witnessed the heart-rending distress 
of these greatly wronged people, and have sympathised in their 
afflictions, and under an apprehension that it was their duty to 
assist them, they have extended such aid as they were enabled 
to afford them, consistently with our well known pacific and 
non-resisting principles. Under these views and impressions, 
the Society of Friends have faithfully made known their case 
to those who had the power to protect and to do them justice ; 
whatever, therefore, may be the consequences of the measures 
that have, or may hereafter be pursued towards these injured 
people, the committee trust that the responsibility may not at- 
tach to us. 

The condition of this small remnant of a once numerous and 
poweriul nation is calculated to awaken the commiseration of 
every benevolent mind — after being hunted down and op- 
pressed, as the race has been from generation to generation, 
they now find themselves about to be dispossessed of the last 
pittance of their once widely extended domain, and driven into 
a distant countiy, which they fully believe is altogether un- 
suited to their conditien and habits, and where they apprehend 
that poverty, disease and misery await them. Many seem to 
desire that death would at once terminate their sufferings, 
rather than that they should, by a compulsory removal, be 
forced into a barbarous and remote country where they must 
sink under the lingering miseries which they believe will there 
follow them. 



61 

Under these circumstances, it is most respectfully suggested 
to the President whether, instead of forcing them to a place 
against which they feel such stiong objections, or perhaps 
driving them into a neighboring colony, where, under some 
circumstances, they might become very dangerous neighbors, 
it would not be best, if these people must be removed, to allow 
them to select for themselves, from the vast unoccupied terri- 
tories of the United States, a residence to which they could be 
induced voluntarily to emigrate, and where they might reason- 
ably hope to obtain a subsistance, and remain unmolested un- 
der the protection of the United States, and be accessible to 
their friends, who would desire to extend assistance to them. 
Should they be able to find such a country, and be permitted 
to go there, the committee doubt not but that their friends 
would afford their co-operation in effecting so desirable a 
purpose. 

Signed on behalf of the said committee, 

PHILIP E. THOMAS, 
BENJ. FERRIS. 

Wilmington, Seventh month 7, 1840. 

Hitherto, all the exertions of the joint committees, to save 
the Indians, had been made during the administration of Mar- 
tin Van Buren, when it became ascertained in the latter part 
of the year 1840, that there would be a change in the execu- 
tive of the United States, a hope was entertained, that this 
change of the administration, would produce a change of mea- 
sures, if not a change of poUcy, in relation to the aborigines of 
our country. It was during the admmistration of Martin Van 
Buren that all the corrupt measures herein referred to were in- 
stituted, to drive the Seneca Indians from their reservations. 
It was under that administration that the treaty of 1838, ob- 
tained by bribery, forgery, and other frauds, was got up, and 
brought into the Senate. It was under that administration that 
the " amended treaty" was ratified and proclaimed as the law 
of the land, after the most decisive evidence of its grossly 



62 

fraudulent character, had been laid before the Senate, and the 
President of the United States, and were not denied or contro- 
verted. Many of our fellow-citizens entertained a belief that 
the President elect held more just and liberal views, in relation 
to the Indian population of our country, than had guided his 
predecessor ; and the joint committees, anxious to omit no ex- 
ertion, and to lose no opportunity for the relief of our Indian 
brethren, thought it right to make an early application to the 
new administration in their favor. A committee was accordingly 
appointed to proceed to the Seat of Government, in order to 
ascertain, as far as possible, the views and feelings of the new 
cabinet, in regard to our concern. Several of the most active 
and prominent men at that period were consulted on the occa- 
sion, — men who well understood the subject — who felt a deep 
interest in it, and who were likely to be placed in situations to 
aid in the promotion of our cause. Of the benevolent feelings 
and high sense of justice, entertained by the new President we 
were fully assured ; and we were further informed, that, on 
the organization of the new administration, we might rely with 
confidence on its co-oneration, in every measure the law would 
authorize for the relief of the Seneca Indians. 

The death of the President occurred very soon afterwards. 
Although this circumstance brought a cloud over our prospects, 
the committee determined to persevere in its application for 
relief, to the new administration. The following memorial ad- 
dressed to John Tyler, President of the United States, was pre- 
pared, and a delegation appointed to present it to him. 

To the President of the United Slates. 

The memorial of the Committees of the four Yearly meetings 
of Friends of Genessee, New York, Philadelphia, and Bal- 
timore, appointed by those meetings on Indian concerns, 

Respecutflly represents : 

That during the last session of Congress, the said committees 

appealed to the President of the United States, and to both 

branches of the National Legislature on behalf of the Seneca 



63 

Indians in the State of New York. The distressed situation of 
that people induces us again to appeal to the Government of 
our country for their relief. 

A treaty of these Indians, said to have been concluded at 
Buffalo Creek, on the 15th of January, 1838, by Ransom H. 
Gillet, a commissioner on the part of the United States, and the 
chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the several tribes of New 
York Indians, assembled in Council, was laid before the Senate 
in the early part of that year, and by that body referred to its 
Committee on Indian affairs. It was thoroughly examined by 
that committee, and unanimously rejected. 

The Committee then modelled another treaty, since called 
" the amended treaty." and the Senate, to guard against future 
frauds, adopted a resolution, dated June 11, 1838, in which 
they say, " the treaty shall have no force or effect whatever, 
as it relates to any of the said tribes, nations, or bands of New 
York Indians, nor shall it be understood that the Senate have 
assented to any of the contracts, (meaning the Deeds of Con- 
veyance,) connected with it, until the same, with the amend- 
ments herein proposed, is submitted, and fully, and fairly ex- 
plained by a Commissioner of the United States, to each of 
said tribes or bands, separately assembled in Council, and they 
have given their free and voluntary assent thereto. And if 
one or more of said tribes or bands, when consulted as afore- 
said, shall freely assent to said treaty as amended, and to their 
contract (or Deed of Conveyance) connected therewith, it 
shall be binding and obligatory, &c. 

With the conditions thus plainly expressed by the Senate, 
the commissioner appointed on this occasion, did but partially 
comply : those of the most importance to the Indians Avere 
wholly disregarded. 

In the summer of 1838, the commissioner held a Council 
with the Seneca Indians, at Buffalo Creek ; the treaty was ex- 
plained, and after a long and protracted session of more than 
forty days, giving full time for deliberation, the treatv was re- 



64 

jected by an overwhelming majority ol the chieis ; sixteen only^ 
being in favor of it, and more than sixty against it. 

We will not, on the present occasion, describe the clandes- 
tine manner in which the commissioner afterwards proceeded 
to obtain signatures to the treaty, in wigwams, taverns, and 
private houses; nor go into an exposition of the bribery, 
threats, misrepresentations, and other corrupt means used 
to procure the assent of the Seneca chiefs to that instru- 
ment. Documents of an authentic character in the Indian 
Department at Washington, or in possession of the under- 
signed, will amply illustrate these charges, and prove their 
truth. It will suffice at present, to say, that with all these 
means, a majority of the chiefs never were induced to sign it. 
Out of eighty-one chiefs, acknowledged as such, by both par- 
ties, only sixteen put their names to it 171 council, and thirteen 
afterwards ; making in the whole, twenty-nine. The other 
signatures were the names of Indians, who either were not 
chiefs, or who never signed the assent, or authorised others to 
sign on their behalf. 

The treaty thus executed, was again sent to the Senate. 
That body, after hearing testimony on both sides of the ques- 
tion, and not being satisfied of the validity of its execution, re- 
turned it to the President, with a resolution dated March 2d, 
1839, stating, that whenever the President should be satisfied 
that the assent of the Seneca tribe of Indians had been given 
to the amended treaty, according to the true intent and mean- 
ing of the resolution of the Senate of June 11, 1838, "the Se- 
nate recommends that the President make proclamation of said 
treaty, and carry the same into effect." 

In the summer of 1839, the President, in order to obtain 
satisfaction on the subject, despatched the Secratary of War to 
the Seneca nation. A council was called, and held at Catta- 
raugus, but nothing was done calculated to satisfy the President, 
or remove his doubts. On the contrary, a more decided oppo- 
sition to the treaty and its objects, was manifested by the In- 
dians, in consequence of which, the President declined to use 



65 

the power conferred on him, to proclaim the treaty, and on the 
13th of the First month, (January,) 1840, returned it to the 
Senate. In his message on that occasion, he very distinctly 
declared that the resolution of the Senate of the 11th of June, 
1838, did require that the assent of the Indians to the amended 
treaty, should be given in council, — that such assent had not 
been so given, — that no advance towards obtaining it in council 
had been made, and that the assent of a majority of them in 
council could not be obtained. As it regards the charge of 
BRiBERF, the President says ''that improper means have been 
employed to obtain the assent of the Seneca chiefs, there is 
every reason to believe, and I have not been able to satisfy my- 
self that I can, consistently with the resolution of the Senate 
of the 2d of March, 1839, cause the treaty to be carried into 
effect." 

Under this impression, the President returned the amended 
treaty to the Senate. It was sent back because it had not been 
executed according to the conditions which had been prescribed 
by the Senate itself. Notwithstanding these circumstances, 
that body, by a resolution dated March 25, 1840, declared that 
"in the opinion of the Senate, the treaty with the Seneca In- 
dians had been satisfactorily acceded to," and that "the Presi- 
dent is authorized to proclaim it as in full force and operation." 
The vote on this resolution was taken when many of the mem- 
bers were absent. On the final question being put, it appeared 
that the Senate was equally divided, nineteen voting in favor, 
and nineteen against the ratification. The question was settled 
by the casting vote of the Vice President in its favor. 

Since this act of the Senate, circumstances have occurred, 
confirming the unfavorable views we had taken of that treaty, 
and the means by which the parties interested in driving the 
Indians from their lands, had taken to secure their object. The 
Government of Massachusetts, in the compact between that 
state, and the State of New York, made in the year 1786, re- 
lating to the pre-emptive right to Indian lands, in the latter 
state, was vested with a supervisory control over all future 
9 



66 

sales of these lands, to be made by the Six Nations. Darino- 
the past year, the Governor and Council of Massachusetts by 
memorials from the Seneca Indians, and from the bodies we 
represent, were induced to take up the subject. A committee 
of the Council was appointed, who after a close and searchino- 
investigation of the circumstances relating to the origin, pro- 
gress, andalledged execution of the treaty, and "the contracts'' 
or Deeds of Conveyance connected with it, made a detailed 
and able report on the subject, which has been adopted by the 
council, and approved by the Governor. In that report they 
say: " If the Governor and Council of Massachusetts, in 1839, 
had known all that had occurred in this unhappy business^ even 
when the Deed was presented for their approbation, we are con- 
fident they would not have approved it. But they did not then 
know that a very large majority of the Seneca nation was strong- 
ly opposed to a sale of their lands ; nor that the signatures of 
several of the chiefs had been obtained by bribery." We 
herewith present to the President a copy of that report. 

We do solemnly believe that a just regard to the honor and 
good faith ot the country requires a reconsideration of this trea- 
ty, by the constituted authorities of the government. In them 
we hope there is a power to prevent future injuries, and to re- 
dress the wrongs already inflicted on an inoffensive and suffer- 
ing people. And although for the performance of a plain act 
of justice, a precedent ought not to be deemed requisite, yet, 
for the course we now respectfully suggest, a very clear prece- 
dent is, as we understand, to be found in the recent acts of our 
own government. During the administration of President 
Monroe a treaty with the Creek nation, said to have been made 
at "the Indian Springs," was submitted to the Senate, profess- 
ing to have been duly and fairly executed. Under this aspect 
of the concern it was ratified by that branch of the treaty 
making power, and duly proclaimed by the President as the 
law of the land. Subsequently it was discovered to have been 
obtained by fraud and executed by only a minority of the 
chiefs , in both these respects resembling the treaty, to which 



67 

we would now draw the attention of the government. Upon 
being satisfied of these facts, President Adams, at the succeed- 
ing session of the Legislature, returned it to the Senate with 
his views of its character, whereupon it was declared null and 
void. 

In addition to the reasons already suggested for pursuing a 
similar course on the present occasion, it is deemed proper to 
state to the President, that in the opinion of many distinguished 
legal characters, the ratification of the Seneca treaty by the 
Senate, in manner aforesaid, was not in conformity with the 
requisitions of the Constitution, which seems expressly to re- 
quire the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present to 
make a treaty valid. In case of the Seneca treaty, as we have 
before stated, the Senate was equally divided, and it required 
the casting vote of the Vice President to decide the question. 

We, therefore, cannot but hope that under the present ad- 
ministration of the government, coming to the consideration of 
the question from any former bias, the Seneca nation may find 
that justice, which has hitherto been wirhheld from them, and 
our beloved country preserved from a stain on its character 
which every upright and honorable citizen must sincerely 
deprecate. 

Signed on behalf of said committees, 

BENJ. FERRIS, Cierk. 
Washington, Sixth month Sth, 1840. 

At the same time the Indians, moving in their own cause, 
presented to the President the following clear and well written 
memorial. It contains a brief but lucid statement of their case, 
and, as the reader will perceive, was, like our own, written at 
a time, when we yet entertained a hope, that the power vested 
by the Constitution of the United States in the President and 
Senate, to make treaties, was sufficient to mmul them, when 
palpably tainted by fraud. This hope was probably well found- 
ed in cases where by the treaty no rights of properixj had been 
vested in n third par hj. By the treaty now sought to be aimulled 



68 

the Ogden Company had become legally possessed of a vast 
real estate, which, our ablest legal advisers assured us, could 
not be taken from them, by any legislative act. It was this 
circumstance that turned our attention from the treaty making 
power, to the only other resource, the spirit of compromise. 

Jl Memorial of the Seneca Indians to the President of the 
United States. 

The undersigned Chiefs of the Seneca nation of Indians re- 
siding in the western parts of New York, would respectfully 
call your attention to the peculiar circumstances of our rela- 
tion to the government and people of the U. States. It is well 
known that, by former treaties, the full enjoyment of our rights 
and privileges, within the territories of the U. States, the protec- 
tion of the government over our persons and property, and the 
right of our soil, within certain defined limits, Avas guaranteed 
to us for ever. We have strictly and, so far as we are able to 
judge, honorably fulfilled, on our part, the conditions of those 
treaties. But an attempt has been made to deprive us of the 
advantages therein secured to us, by forcing upon us, against 
our will, a new treaty, requiring us to emigrate beyond the 
Mississippi. 

From the beginning of the negociations, a very large ma- 
jority, at least fourteen-ffteenths of the Seneca nation, have 
been opposed to this new treaty, and still remain so. We have, 
however, sought to carry on our opposition simply by making 
known to the government of the United States the facts in the 
case, relying on the justice and integrity of the government to 
deliver us from the evil sought to be inflicted on us. This we 
were enabled to do so effectually that the Senate's Committee 
on Indian affairs, after a patient and thorough investigation, 
pronounced the treaty fraudulent, and recommended its rejec- 
tion. The President also distinctly informed the Senate that 
" no inducement could prevail on the majority of our chiefs to 
give their assent to it in council, and that there was too much 
reason for believing "that improper measures had been em- 



69 

ployed to effect it." Still, notwithstanding these things, the 
question of ratification having been taken in the absence of 
many of the Senators, was decided by the casting vote of the 
Vice President, Johnson, in the affirmative ; and President Van 
Buren, although he had a little before informed the Senate of 
its injustice, immediately proclaimed it as the law of the land, 
notwithstanding the constitution of the United States requires 
the vote of two-thirds of the Senators present for the ratification 
of any treaty during the session of Congress. 

We have the opinion of many distinguished jurists, and 
some of them eminent Senators, that the ratification was in 
direct violation of the constitution, as well as of the principles 
established by the government for treating with Indian nations. 
Besides, the Governor and Council of Massachusetts, a sort of 
third party, if not to the treaty, at least to the deed of sale of 
our lands, connected with it, have, after a minute investigation, 
unanimously reported the w^hole proceeding to be unjust and 
fraudulent. 

Many members of the House of Representatives have also 
expressed similar opinions, and assured/us of their desire that 
the whole subject might undergo a thorough and careful re- 
vision, and that the vote authorizing the President to proclaim 
the treaty, might be reconsidered in the Senate. 

A large number of citizens of western New York, and many 
of our friends in other places, impelled by regard for justice, 
have petitioned Congress not to make any appropriation to 
carry the treaty into effect, until a re-investigation should be 
made by the Senate ; and we are encouraged by the fact, that 
whenever our wrongs are understood by the people of the 
United States, the kindest sympathy is manifested in our behalf. 

At the opening of the last session of Congress, a memorial 
was presented to Mr. Van Buren, requesting him to bring the 
subject before the Senate for reconsideration, but he utterly 
refused to comply with our request. A delegation of our 
chiefs waited on your lamented predecessor soon after his inau- 
guration, and others of our friends recommended our case to 



70 

his notice ; and we received from him assurances that, at the 
proper time, the subject should come up for reconsideration. 
God, in his inscrutable but righteous providence, has removed 
him, at the very commencement of those efforts at reform 
which lay near his heart, and which the voice of your great 
nation so imperatively demanded, and now our hopes of re- 
dress hang, under God, upon him on whom devolve the ardu- 
ous duties and responsibilities from which he was so early and 
so suddenly released. 

We are ignorant of your views respecting our case. Indeed, 
we know not that it has ever been properly presented to your 
notice ; we have, therefore, assembled in council, and resolved 
to address you this memorial, which we have requested the 
agent of the War Department, Griffith M. Cooper, to present 
to you, with the respects of the Seneca nation. 

We most earnertly and respectfully request you to present 
the subject to the Senate, at the earliest opportunity, for the 
purpose of obtaining a reconsideration of the resolution au- 
thorizing the President to proclaim the treaty. 

We ask this for the following; among other reasons : — 
1 st. As already stated, we are informed by some of the most 
distinguished men in the country, and believe that, that act of 
the Senate was unconstitutional. 

2. The amended treaty has never been lawfully ratified by 
the constituted authorities of the Seneca nation, only six- 
teen out of more than eighty chiefs having signed their assent 
in open council, while more than sixty signed their dissent and 
protest before they left the council house. 

3d. More than fourteen-fifteenths of our people are, and al- 
ways have been, opposed to the sale of our lands. 

4th. Improper and very corrupt means have been employed 
to obtain the assent of our chiefs. Clandestine manoeuvering, 
threats, liquor, bribes, misrepresentations, the withholding our 
annuities, or appropriating them without our consent or know- 
ledge to the purposes of the emigrating party, were some of the 
means used for affecting their designs against us. 



71 

5th. When, by the use of such means, it was found impos- 
sible to eke out a majority, even though those operated on were 
allowed to sign in taverns, and in the darkness of midnight, our 
people, and the government of the United States, were im- 
posed upon by the clandestine attempt to create new chiefs, at 
a private house in Buffalo city, and, on the strength of this 
mock election, the signatures of these men were appended to 
the assent to the amended treaty, and constituted the pretence 
for a majority, on which the Senate voted the proclamation of 
the treaty. 

6th. Because it will be the destruction of our people if forced 
upon us ; notwithstanding the liberality of its provisions, it will 
throw us back again into a state of barbarism from which we 
have but too lately emerged. It will prevent us for a genera- 
tion at least from taking the rank of citizens of the United 
States. It will exchange the influences of civilization and 
Christianity by which we are now surrounded for the contagious 
example of those more barbarous than ourselves, and of the 
border settlers among the whites. It will place us in a country 
which, without great previous expense, cannot be made to 
maintain a civilized people, and in a climate which has hereto- 
fore proved fatal to a large proportion of those Indians with 
whom we have been acquainted, who have emigrated there. 

7th. Because we have a claim upon the government, by 
virtue of former treaties, for protection from such evils, and 
that claim we have never forfeited by unfriendly or injurious 
conduct. We have fought in commou with your own soldiers, 
and shed our blood for the United States ; and, from our youth, 
have loved the free republican institutions of your country. 
We were born within your limits, and, though called savages 
by those who would dispossess us, we feel this moment a vastly 
deeper interest in every thing which concerns the welfare of 
the country than the hosts of foreigners, who, with all their 
imported notions of government and religion, have so easily 
become naturalized and obtained the rank and appellation of 
citizens. From our intercourse with such men, we fear they 



72 

bear the name in many instances without the feeling of citi- 
zens. We imbibed that feeling with our earliest breath, and 
yet we must be driven off beyond the limits of civilization, be- 
cause we lack the name. 

We deprecate such a doom. We have compared our own 
condition with that of our kindred, in some cases the members 
of our families, residing in a neighboring province. The land 
is fertile there. Our friends there are numerous. Our lan- 
guage is correctly spoken there, and it would seem that by 
casting our lot amongst them we might be happy. But the 
spirit of improvement, the genius of your free institutions, the 
energy of your republican government are wanting there, and 
we should deplore the stern necessity which would compel us 
to seek a home across the river. Still, it would be far prefera- 
ble to emigrating beyond that distant river, where, habituated 
as we are to a more northern climate, death or ills which would 
embitter the richest inheritance, would be our certain portion. 
Whils the rights guaranteed to us by solemn treaties would 
secure us from both these alternatives, we look respectfully but 
confidently to the head of the United States for the strict ful- 
filment of the terms of those treaties. 

8th. Because we never owned the lands in Ouisconsin pre- 
tended to be conveyed in that treaty to the United States, but 
have always told the government we have no interest or con- 
cern in it whatever; and we believe it unjust to the people of 
the United States to pay for that land twice, and devote so 
large a sum of money, and so much of the public domain, when 
we have in fact no claim upon government for any thing at all 
on the score of these lands. 

9th. We ask for the speedy reconsideration of the subject, 
because the company who pretend to claim under the treaty, 
by their agents and commissioners, are constantly committing 
trespasses upon our lands, and carry off our timber, stone, 
wood, &c., and converting them to their own use, notwith- 
standing they were expressly forbidden by a special messenger 
from the War Department to take any such action under the 



73 

treaty till the expiration of five years, in which we were to re- 
move, should give them possession. Their conduct is in many 
cases exceedingly vexatious, and could not be borne, did we not 
wait with confidence for the redress which we expect from the 
hands of government. If that redress should be long delayed, 
they will rob us of the most valuable part of our timber, and 
we exceedingly fear that we should not be able, by legal pio- 
cess, even though it should terminate in our favor, to recover 
the value of the property they are destroying. 

For these and other reasons which would protract our 
communication to an unwarrantable length, we earnestly 
and respectfully pray you to lay our case before the Senate 
without delay. We ask you to do this at the extra session, 
although there may not be time to act upon it, because we 
suppose that if the treaty shall be returned to the Senate, the 
company will be under the necessity of suspending their de- 
predations upon us until the question is decided, so that the 
sooner you shall be pleased to comply with our request, the 
sooner and the more effectually will you extend to us the protec- 
tion promised by the former treaties, to which we have alluded. 

We will only add that we have heard a rumor that the Ogden 
Company have recently made arrangements with the govern- 
ment for the payment of the consideration money of the treaty, 
and the money for our improvements. We hope it will prove 
that this report is without foundation, and w^e most sincerely 
entreat your Excellency not to make any arrangement which 
will in any way sanction or give validity to the pretend- 
ed treaty, or any of the contracts connected with it, until the 
Senate shall have had an opportunity for acting again upon the 
subject. Meanwhile we shall be obliged by your communi- 
cating to us as much information as you may deem proper re- 
specting the course you will pursue, as we wish to send a dele- 
gation to Washington city whenever any disposal is to be made 
of the subject, or any action taken upon our case. 
With very great respect. 

Your obedient servants. 
10 



74 

The forgoing memorial was signed by eighty-six chiefs and 
headmen of the several Seneca reservations, and was, on thei 
behalf, presented to the President of the United States on the 
8th day of the Sixth month, (June,) 1841. 

The current of public opinion at this time, beginning to set 
strongly against the conduct of the Ogden Land Company, they 
found it very desirable to direct it into another channel. For 
this purpose a pamphlet was published, purporting to have been 
written by an Indian chief, entitled " An Appeal to the Chris- 
tian Community, on the Condition and Prospects of the New 
York Indians, in answer to a book entitled ' The Case of the 
New York Indians,' and other pubUcations of the Society of 
Friends. By Nathaniel T. Strong, a chief of the Seneca 
tribe." 

This work was calculated to mislead those only, who were 
wholly ignorant of the character and conduct of that company. 
It was hardly worth the trouble of a refutation, but Friends 
charged with the Indian concern, were then possessed of facts 
and of important circumstances, a knowledge which it was 
desirable to throw before the public ; and they deemed this a 
proper occasion again to appear in print, in order more fully to 
illustrate the subject, to excite public sympathy, and to enlist 
the virtuous part of the community, in the cause of suffering 
humanity. For these purposes they agreed, in the fifth month, 
1841, to publish a work entitled, " A Further Illustration of the 
Case of the Seneca Indians in the State of New York, in a 
review of a pamphlet, entitled, ' An Appeal to the Christian 
Community, &c. By Nathaniel T. Strong, a chief of the 
Seneca tribe. 

This work was extensively circulated, particularly in the 
western part of the state of New York. Its happy effects were 
soon apparent. The wrongs and sufferings of the poor, op- 
pressed and defrauded Indians became more generally known ; 
and the commiseration of the public found expression in news- 
papers and other periodicals. The murmur of disapprobation, 
loud and deep, was distinctly heard through the land, more 



75 

especially (where it was most desirable) in the state of New 
York, and in the vicinity of the Indian Reservation ; but no 
where more distinctly than in the legislative halls of that noble 
commonwealth. 

About this time, another powerful auxiliary of the Indian 
cause appeared in the field. The memorial which the com- 
mittee, after its meeting at Farmington, presented to the 
Governor and Council of the state of Massachusetts, was re- 
spectfully received, and promptly attended to. Entering with 
much interest into the subject, they appointed a committee to 
investigate the causes of complaint, on the part of their old 
friends, the Senecas. The result was a very able report, dated 
Nov. 1, 1S40, in which the cause of the Indians is advocated, 
with great force and clearness, and the conduct of the Ogden 
Company exposed, in language at once elegant and dignified, 
but with a severity which only the, most obdurate could with- 
stand. This report was published in pamphlet form, and widely 
circulated. Coming from high legislative authority, it com- 
manded attention and respect. Lucid in its statements, and 
unanswerable in argument, it carried conviction wherever it 
appeared. 

We give to our readers the concluding part of the report, in 
the belief that it will amply compensate for the time and atten- 
tion bestowed in its perusal. After a general view of the whole 
subject, they conclude with the following remarks : 

" The memorirlists and the delegations who have appeared 
before the Conimittee, now object both to the treaty and to the 
alleged conveyance, for the following reasons : 

" 1st, — They say there are 91 lawful chiefs of the Seneca 
nation, and that the amended treaty and the deed, whether 
signed by 41 or 43, have not been assented to in any form by 
a majority of 91, viz., 46 chiefs and headmen. 

'"2d, — Of those whose names are on that treaty and deed, 
the Senecas object that 6 of them are not lawful chiefs, — and 
that at least eleven of their chiefs were bribed by the agents of 
the Ogden Company, — that the contracts of bribery are in 



76 

writing, and they exhibit the contracts, by which it appears 
that at least 8 chiefs, (who had been bribed before the date of 
the deed and first treaty,) signed the deed and amended treaty. 
If this be true, and the signatures of the bribed chiefs be re- 
jected, the deed and amended treaty would each have less than 
a majority of the chiefs, whether their whole number be 91, or 
81, or 76. In addition to these cases, other instances of bribery 
are alleged, in proof of which, the affidavits of the persons 
bribed are exhibited. On this point, the Senecas also urge the 
declaration of the President of the United States, who said in 
his communication to the Senate, dated January 13, 1840, — 
' That improper means have been employed to obtain the assent 
of the Seneca chiefs, there is every reason to believe ; and I 
have not been able to satisfy myself, that I can, consistently 
with the resolution of the Senate of the 2d March, 18S9, cause 
the treaty to be carried into effect, with regard to the Seneca 
tribe.' 

" 3d, — It is said that six others of those alleged to have 
sio-ned, make oath that they never signed their names or made 
their marks to the amended treaty, knowing what they did at 
the time. 

c 4thj — Only 16 signatures to the amended treaty were ob- 
tained in open Council ; and the Senecas declare that no treaty 
with them can be valid, unless made and signed in open 
Council; — that the resolution of the Senate required their as- 
sent to the amended treaty, to be given in open Council ; — that 
this intention and requisition of the Senate, is express as to the 
St. Hegis Indians, and equally clear in regard to the Senecas ; 

that only 16 Seneca chiefs having so assented, the treaty has 

not received the assent of the Seneca nation ; — that the chiefs 
can act, (like all other legislators,) only, in Legislative Coun- 
cil, — and that out of such Council, they are powerless. To 
show that they are correct in these opinions and conclusions, 
they refer to the letter of Mr. Crawford to the Secretary of War, 
dated 29th October, 153S, in whicn he says, ' Perhaps too, it 
was intended by the Senate, that they,' (the Senecas,) 'should 



77 

assent in Council.' They also refer to Gov. Everett's opinion, 
viz. — " The treaty making power is granted by the constitution, 
in general teams. No modification of its exercise in reference 
to Indian tribes are recognized. As it would certainly be un- 
constitutional for the President of the United States to attempt 
to treat Avith individual members of any foreign State or Gov- 
ernment, (not duly authorised to represent the entire body,j 
or to attempt to obtain the ratification of a treaty, by means of 
the assent of the individuals of the Senate, not duly assembled 
and acting as such, — I remain of opinion, that the constitu- 
tionality of attempting to obtain the assent of individual Indian 
chiefs to the amended treaty, in the manner in question, is 
doubtful.' The Senecas also refer to the message of the Presi- 
dent to the Senate, on 13th Jnmiary, 1840, in which he says, 
♦the provision of the Resolution of the Senate of 11th June, 
1838, requiring the assent of each of said tribes to the amend- 
ed treaty to be given in Council, and which was also made a 
condition precedent to the recommendation to me ol the 2d 
March. 1839, to carry the same into effect, has not been com- 
plied with, as it respects the Seneca tribe.' They also reler to 
the same opinion as expressed by the Committee on Indian 
Affairs. And to aU this they add, that both the treaty and 
deed falsely purport to have been made in Council. And the 
Senecas, and the Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs, 
agree in the declaration, that all treaties ever made with the 
Indian tribes, have been made in open Council, or by delegates 
duly authorized. 

"5th, — The Senecas contend, that the amended treaty has 
not received the requisite assent of the Senate, viz : two-thirds 
of the Senators present concurring, — but was assented to by a 
majority of only one. 

"6th, — That the deed and first treaty constituted one con- 
tract, and that the first treaty being nugatory, the deed thereby 
became void, and must remain so until both the deed and 
amended treaty shall be confirmed and assented to by the Se- 
neca nation, in a fair and legal manner. The Senecas say the 



78 

Ogden Company admitted that the deed required confirmation 
after the Senate amended treaty, as shown by the Ogden Com- 
pany's offer of life-leases to all those who should prefer not to 
emigrate, and " who assent to the treaty to the lands respec- 
tively held and occupied by them as farming lands." 

" 7th, — That the deed and amended treaty are, in fact, con- 
nected together, and are to be considered as one contract, — 
both equally needing ratification on the part of the Seneca na- 
tion ; — that all the considerations coming to the Senecas, are 
dependent on the treaty ; — that the 10th article of the amended 
treaty expressly treats the deed as part of that treaty, and as 
being annexed thereto"; — that the said 10th article would not 
be intelligible without the deed; — and that the ^202,000 pur- 
chase money is not to be paid to the Seneca nation, except as 
provided in that article]; — that the amended treaty, not having 
receired the assent of a majority of their chiefs and headmen 
in council, nor the constitutional assent of the Senate, is void, 
and that the deed, as part of it, is also void. 

"8th, — That the Senecas also refer to a part of the above cited 
resolution of the Senate, viz., — "if one or more of said tribes 
or bands, when consulted as aforesaid, (viz., in general coun- 
cil,) shall freely assent to said treaty as amended, and to their 
contract connected therewith, it shall be binding and obligatory 
upon them so assenting." Now the Senecas say the only con- 
tract here referred to, is the said deed of conveyance to Ogden 
and Fellows ; — that since this resolution of the Senate, the Se- 
necas have never assented to that deed or contract; and that 
for this reason also, the deed is void. 

"9th, — The Senecas also contend, that the deed and treaty, 
forming but one contract or instrument, both of them required 
the assent of Massachusetts. 

" 10th, — The Senecas also say, that several of those whose 
names appear on these instruments, are not chiefs, nor entitled 
to represent their nation. 

"These are the principle objections urged against the deed 
and treaty, — and, as probably three-fourths of the whole Seneca 



79 

nation are opposed to emigration, and to the sale of their lands, 
these objections are pressed with great feeling and bitterness. 

"Indeed, we have no doubt that very "improper means" 
have been used to obtain the assent of the Senecas to the deed 
and treaty. And this opinion has also been expressed by the 
President of the United States, — by the Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Indian Affairs, — and by the Society of Friends. 
Neither can be supposed to have any interest to mislead their 
judgment, — and each has had every opportunity for examining 
and understanding this subject thoroughly. 

If the governor and council of Massachusetts, in 1839, had 
known all that had occurred in this unhappy business, even 
when the deed was presented for their approbation, we are 
confident they would not have approved it. But thoy did not 
know then that a very large majority of the Seneca nation was 
strongly opposed to a sale of their lands, nor that the signatures 
of several of their chiefs had been obtained by bribery. Mr. 
Trowbridge was entrusted with the duties of agent of this com- 
monwealth ; but it does not appear that he ever reported to this 
department a copy of the treaty, nor any information of its pro- 
visions. Had he done so, or had this department known the 
state of feeling among the Senecas, or could they have known 
that a treaty, forming an essential part of the contract for the 
purchase and sale of the lands, had been made, but would not 
be ratified by the United States, they would not have approved 
the deed, — certainly not unconditionall3^ And if they had 
known the provisions of the treaty, and their essential connec- 
tion with the deed, they never could have imagined it possible 
that the Ogden Company would insist on the sufficiency of the 
deed, if the United States government should reject the treaty, 
or if the treaty should be found not to have received the assent 
of the Seneca nation. 

With all the information we possess at this time, Massachu- 
setts would not now approve that deed. 

It is also stated, that Congress has made no appropriation for 
carrying into effe(;t this treaty ; and it may well refuse to do 



80 

so, if satisfied that the deed and treaty have been obtainen by 
deception practised on the United States, on this common- 
wealth, and on the Senecas. Whichever may be pursued, we 
may expect that those who represent this state, the duly con- 
stituted friend and protector of the Seneca nation, will strenu- 
ously endeavor to cause justice to be done to them. 

The Committee will give no opinion whether it is not for 
the interest and happiness of the Senecas to abandon their 
lands and improvements in New York, and retire to the west 
of the Mississippi. A very large majority of them believe it is 
not for their interest and happiness to do so ; and, in a matter 
affecting themselves only, they should be permitted to decide 
for themselves. 

By order of the Committee, 

JOHN R. ADAN, Chairman. 

Council Chamber, Mov. 21, 1840." 

In " The New York Review, No. xvii." published in the 
7th mo. 1831, appeared an essay pretending to be a review of 
the work we published almost one year before, called " The 
case, &c." This essay, coming as we had no doubt, from a 
distinguished member of the Ogden Company, was in fact a 
very bold, but very weak attempt, to justify its grossly immoral 
conduct toward the Seneca Indians. It contained admissions 
of the immorality of that conduct, so coarse and disgusting, that 
none but those very much lost to a sense of shame, would have 
exposed them to public view. This publication, if it did not 
call for an answer, it opened a door for exhibiting in its true 
colors, the dark and mischievous spirit that actuated that Com- 
pany: and induced the committee to publish the following 
notice of it, at the end of our little work called "A further 
illustration, &.c." 

" Since the foregoing pages were in the press, ' The NeAV 
York Review, No. XVII., July, 1841,' has made its appear- 
ance. In that number, article 9, page 809, &c., there is an 



81 

assay, purporting to be a review of our book, entitled, "The 
case of the Seneca Indians in the State of New York, illustra- 
ted by facts." 

This essay is a labored attempt, not to disprove the truth of 
our statements, — not to show that in attributing bribery, fraud, 
&c. to the agents and principal actors in getting up the late 
Seneca treaty, we were mistaken, — but to justify their unprin- 
pled conduct in the face of a " Christian community !" "Drunk- 
enness, bribery, rum allowed, personal inducements offered, to 
persuade individual chiefs to sign" the treaty, — " an amount of 
bribery going beyond all former precedent," are unblushiiigly 
admitted ! But while the Reviewer admits the facts, he thinks, 
or at least asserts, that " the blame should lie any where but on 
the pre-emption party!" — any where but on the most guilty ! 
In his opinion, those who drank the " rum," and accepted the 
"presents," are, in this case, the culprits! His doctrine is, 
that the "corrupt principles in the receiver," not the "illegal 
practice in the giver," are to "blame;" — that he who "cor- 
rupts by gifts," is to be deemed innocent, while he who is cor- 
rupted by them, is to be made the " scape-goat to bear away all 
the sin!" 

" By the laws of Athens, the ojferer, as well as the receiver 
of a bribe, were prosecuted." In England, the oiFence of taking 
a bribe, is punished with fine and imprisonment, and the of- 
fence oi offering a bribe, even if it be not accepted, receives the 
same punishmenl. (3 Ins. 147.) In elections, he that offers a 
bribe, forfeits £500. Dr. Rees defines a bribe to be "a reward 
given to pervert the judgment, or corrupt the conduct." 

The defence of bribery, fraud, and artifice, set up by the Re- 
viewer, will hardly avail with a " Christian community," who 
are taught from the highest authority, that it is the "wicked 
man who taketh a gift out of his bosom, to pervert the ways of 
judgment," and that he alone is justified in the sight of heaven, 
who " despiseth the gain of oppression, and who shakelh his 
hands from holding of bribes." It is much to be regretted, 
that any public writer, especially a Reviewer, whose office 
11 



82 

ought to be, to explain and enforce the principles of morality, 
should prostitute that office to pervert them. In the present 
instance, however, the friends of justice and humanity have 
cause to congratulate each other, that error and crime have 
found so weak an advocate. His doctrines are calculated more 
to disgust than to convince. No mind, not callous to all sense 
of moral obligation, can entertain them for a moment. They 
are too monstrous to do much harm. Their poison and its an- 
tidote go together. 

• "Nam ego ilium periisse duco, cui quidam periit pudor." 

" We have never known," says the Reviewer, "an Indian 
treaty carried without drunkenness and bribery, — rum allowed, 
and personal inducements offered, to persuade Indian Chiefs to 
sign even by the Quakers themselves." The former part of this 
sentence may be true, if he speaks of personal knowledge, 
and this may account for the morbid state of his moral feelings, 
which permit him, publicly, to palliate the most degrading 
vices, and to hold out the idea, that the frequency of crime re- 
moves the offence ! 

In the latter part of the sentence, his insinuation against the 
Quakers, would have been more easily answered, if he had 
condescended to inform us when and where they had been 
guilty of such depravity. He ought to know that wdth the 
" Christian community," insinuation will not pass for proof. 
We suppose it is founded on the declaration of Senator Lump- 
kin, in his speech on the treaty question, when he asserted, 
that '• even under the government of that good man, William 
Penn," a statute was passed, allowing his commissioners "to 
administer a prudent portion of intoxicating drink to the In- 
dians, with whom they wished to form a treaty." 

We have briefly reviewed and refuted this assertion of the 
Senator, in the work to which this is appended. See pages 56, 
57. We will here add, that the statute, so unjustly charged on 

• I regard tliat man as lost, who has no longer any sense of shame. 



83 

the government of William Penn, was not made until four or 
five years after his death. It was passed, not by a Quaker, but 
"under the government" of Sir William Keith, a member 
of the church of England ; the same individual that Dr. Frank- 
lin, in his autobiography, has condemned to lasting and unen- 
viable notoriety, as the gratuitous and cruel betrayer of his 
juvenile confidence. The Quakers are not accountable for any 
violation of their principles, during the administration of those 
governors who succeeded William Penn, none of whom were 
Quakers. As a society, Friends had no control over the govern- 
ment. Not only the governors, but the proprietors, after his 
decease, were opposed to the principles of the Quakers. The 
history of Pennsylvania, and the private letters of the Penn 
family, amply prove this fact. That cause must be essentially 
bad, that owes its support to vicious example ! 

By what we have said in relation to the Governors of Penn- 
sylvania, after Penn's death, we do not mean to admit that anij 
abuses, under the aforesaid " statute," were committed upon 
the Indians. We read of no case in which chiefs were solicited 
to drink ardent spirits, to deprive them of their reason ; and 
when unconscious of their own actions, made to sign a treaty. 
Such refinement of wickedness belongs to an age that boasts 
of greater refinement of taste and manners, than prevailed in 
the days of Governor Keith. 

The doctrines taught by the learned reviewer,— his argu- 
ments — his style — his phraseology — his peculiar terms, in short 
all the characteristics of his essay, as a literary production^ 
point out its origin. Its mis-statements are repetitions, and its 
bitterness flows from an old and well-known fountain. No dis- 
interested, candid writer could be its author. 

Seventh month 16th, 1841. 

Thus, while the cause of the Seneca Indians in the halls of 
<^ongress, seemed hopeless, and indeed utterly lost, it wag 
rapidly gaining ground with the people, in whom, after parting 
with all the power they can confer on their representatives, 



84 

there is often found enough to defeat the unrighteous measures 
of those who have misrepresented them. Little ground had the 
committee for hope, when they found that the Senate and 
President of the United States, (the treaty-making power under 
the Constitution,) had ratified and proclaimed the instrument 
called the "amended treaty." Yet, by the influence of public 
sentiment, acting on the oppressor and the oppressed, a way 
was soon after made, where no way had appeared. Public 
sentiment acting on the Indian, strengthened him in his reso- 
lution, never to abandon his home, at the mandate of arbitrary 
power., and public sentiment, acting on the agents of the Ogden 
Company, made them feel their weakness, when arrayed 
against the mighty force of popular feeHng, on the side of the 
oppressed. 

At this period of the concern, the committee, struggling 
against a current of unfavorable circumstances, could only ad- 
vise the Indians to be quiet, and patiently bear the injuries 
heaped upon them, — in the certain assurance, that they were 
under the protection and care of the universal shepherd, — 
the witness of all their afflictions, and who, in his oiun time^ 
would send them relief, in his own way. Under a lively sense 
of the wrongs and injustice practiced towards them, the Indians 
had now determined to resist, at least passively, every attempt 
to dispossess them of their patrimonial inheritance. Some of 
their chiefs, under a bitter sense of their injuries, had explicitly 
declared, that as their nation had taken no part, as such, in the 
alienation of their reservations, as the bribed chiefs had acted 
as individuals, and not as representatives of the people, — and, 
as all their unauthorized acts had been duly disavowed, they 
would die on their lands, by the violence of the oppressor, 
rather than remove at his bidding. 

The difficulties which at this time stood in the way of any 
jmovement on the part of Friends, either to the right or to the 
left, were of a formidable character. On the one hand, the re- 
moval of the Indians into the western wilderness, whether 
voluntarily or by force, appeared to their friends, to involve 



85 

their very speedy extermination. The Seneca nation had 
ceased to live by the chase. They were mostly in that stage 
of the journey between barbarism and civihzation, in which 
the Indian loses those habits and means of living, which sustain 
him in his aboriginal condition ; and has not acquired the arts 
and the energy of the civilized man, which serve for his pro- 
tection and safety under any circumstances, and in every va- 
riety of climate. To drive such a body of Indians into a wil- 
derness country, would be more destructive than it would be, 
suddenly to empty one of our large Atlantic cities into the lap 
of Oregon. In the latter case, the knowledge, the ingenuity, 
the energy of the white man, would soon draw round him the 
necessaries and comforts of life, while the ignorance, the list- 
lessness, and the habits of dependance of the red man, would 
leave him a certain prey to want, or disease, or to the more 
savage tribes by which he would be surrounded. From some 
experience in the case of other Indians, formerly under the 
care of Friends, and which were so removed, we had no doubts 
on this point. We knew, as forcibly expressed by Governor 
Seward, late executive of the state of New York, that "it is a 
fearful thing to uproot a whole people, — and send them regard- 
less of their own views of their rights, interests, and welfare, — 
their feelings and affections, into a distant and desolate region." 
On the other hand, the friends of the Indians were forced to 
look in the face, the appalling fact, that by the late action of 
the Federal Government, the Ogden Company had attained 
a legal right to the four Reservations of Tonewanda, Buffalo, 
Cattaraugus, and Alleghany. These lands were now vested 
in that Company by the supreme law of the United States. 
The transfer had been deliberately consummated, through all 
the forms, required by the compact, between the states of Mas- 
sachusetts and New York, and by the constitution and laws of 
the union. That Company being legally seized of them, no 
powers of the general government, or of the state of New York, 
could authorize, either directly or indirectly, any coercive ac- 
tion, by which the Indians miglrt be restored to their just rights. 



86 

Such were the conclusions derived by Friends, from the 
highest legal authorities in the United States ; from true-hearted 
men-; — warm, faithful, untiring friends of the Seneca Indians; 
from men who had plead their cause, on the floor of the Senate 
and House of Representatives, with disinterested zeal and per- 
suasive eloquence ; — men who had stood by Friends in all their 
trials and difficulties, and who would never abandon them 
while there was a ground of hope. 

Under these circumstances, it was painfully evident that 
there was no prospect of restoring to the Indians any portion of 
their territory, except by some agreement, to which the Ogden 
Company should become a party. In the mean time that 
Company perceived, that very formidable difiiculties already 
lay in their way. Tyy plainly saw that the opposition which 
they would have to encounter, might cost them vast sums of 
money, and long postpone the period when they could come 
into the possession of the four Reservations. They knew that 
the white population in their vicinity, had become generally 
acquainted with the means that had been employed to fasten 
this treaty upon the Senecas, and were generally hostile to the 
Company, and would actively aid and abet those Indians in all 
their attempts to keep their lands. 

The friends of the Indians, with concern perceived, that if 
the government, in order to carry out its policy of removing 
them to the west, should attempt their expulsion at the point 
of the bayonet, scenes must ensue which could not be contem- 
plated without horror. And, they as clearly saw, that if no 
such expulsion should be attempted, and no other measures 
of a forcible character should be adopted, still the uncertain na- 
ture of their possession, must keep them forever unsettled, and 
wholly prevent their civilization and improvement. Both par- 
ties were surrounded by difficulties and discouragements , and 
each party, without the knowledge of the other, Avas secretly 
desiring some compromise of their respective claims. 

Such was the state of our concern, when, after mature con- 
sideration, the Committee concluded tp open a correspondence 



87 

with the agents of the Ogden Land Company, with a view to 
ascertain, whether any arrangements could be made, which the 
Indians and their friends could approve, and by which this 
remnant of the once numerous and powerful Seneca nation, 
might be saved from destruction. A delegation from the joint 
committees proceeded to Washington, in order to explain our 
wishes to the Secretary of War, who is, ex officio, the head of 
the Indian Bureau. The active and talented officer then in 
the department, was a citizen of New York, well acquainted 
with the character and circumstances of the Indians in that 
state, and withal, their warm and disinterested friend. Our 
application for his advice and assistance in the case was kindly 
received. He entered into the concern with much interest, 
and, though greatly occupied with the numerous weighty 
affairs of his office, he devoted to our cause, his time, his talents, 
and his experience, with a promptitude and benevolence, which 
was gratefully felt at the time, and can never be forgot. Under 
a deep feeling of our responsibility, as the representatives of 
the Society of Friends, and as guardians of a people, then 
wholly dependant on that Society for protection, we were 
prepared to appreciate the value of his services, and most sen- 
sibly to feel our obligations for his kindness. 

By a letter from John C. Spencer, the then Secretary of War, 
to Thomas L. Ogden, one of the principal agents of the Ogden 
Land Company, the parties were brought together. In the 
course of the negociation many difficulties arose, which threat- 
ened to break up the conference, and required much time and 
reflection, and labor, to reconcile or remove. At length pre- 
liminaries were settled, and under the special supervision of 
the Secretary, a treaty was drawn out, in order to be submitted 
to the Indians, at a Council of the Avhole nation, to be convened 
especially for the purpose. 

The following synopsis of the treaty, the provisions of which 
had been arranged as aforesaid, will give the result of our 
exertions to serve the Indians, and, as far as was in our power, 
to prevent their speedy extermination. 



88 

St/nopsis of the Supplemental Treaty, 1842. 

Art. 1st, Provides that the Ogden Company shall restore 
and convey to the Senecas the two reservations of Cattaraugus 
and Allegany with the same title to them in all things, as they 
held them by, before the execution of the treaty of 1838, re- 
serving the right to purchase the same, when the Senecas may 
incline to sell them. 

Art. 2d, Provides that the Seneca nation agrees that the 
Ogden Company shall retain the two reservations of Tonawanda 
and Buffalo, according to the amended treaty of 1840. 

Art. 3d, Provides that these two reservations shall be paid 
for in proportion to the relative value of the lands within all 
the four reservations. 

Art. 4th, Provides that this valuation shall be adjusted by 
arbitrators, one of whom shall be appointed by the Secretary 
of War, and the other by the Ogden Land Company. The 
umpire, a third arbitrator to be appointed by the other two. 
The said valuation to be made as agreed upon in the former 
treaty, both as to the lands and improvements. 

Art. 5th, Provides that the forest, or unimproved lands, on 
the Tonawanda and Buffalo reservations shall be surrendered 
to the Ogden Land Company, in one month after the award ot 
the arbitrators, shall be filed in the Office of the Secretary of 
War. And it also provides, that the improved lands shall be 
surrendered within two years from the filing the said award as 
aforesaid, when the value of the improvements shall be paid to 
the President of the United States, to be distributed among the 
owners thereof. 

Art. 6th, Provides that such of the Seneca nation as may 
desire to emigrate from the State of New York, shall be enti- 
tled, in proportion to their relative numbers, to the funds and 
annuities of the nation, and that, should the said nation remain- 
ing in the State of New York, hereafter sell these two reserva- 
tions, the emigrating Indians shall, in like manner, be entitled 
to their share in the proceeds thereof. 

Art. 7th, Provides that the treaty of 1838 is annulled, so 



89 

far as the same is inconsistent with the provisions of the pre- 
sent treaty. 

Art. 8th, Provides that the expenses attending the execu- 
tion of this treaty, shall be paid by the Ogden Land Company. 

Art. 9th, Stipulates that the parties to this treaty will so- 
licit the influence of the United States, to protect from taxes 
the lands of the Seneca nation, while they continue to own 
and occupy the same. 

Emigrants from the Cattaraugus and Allegany Reservations, 
are to receive pay for their improvements when they shall 
choose to emigrate, out of any funds belonging to the Seneca 
nation, in the hands of the General Government, — the property 
so improved to become the property of the nation. 

The next concern of the Joint Committee, was to prepare 
for meeting a council of the Seneca nation, for the purpose of 
laying before it, the treaty, the outline of which had been ar- 
ranged, as before related. As soon as the season of the year, 
and other circumstances, would permit, a joint delegation from 
the four Yearly "meetings of Genessee,^^New York, Philadelphia, 
and Baltimore, proceeded to Buffalo, and, according to previous 
arrangement, met the chiefs in council, on the 9th of the 
Fourth month, 1842. After opening the meeting in due form, 
the following communication, previously prepared by the Joint 
Committee, was read and interpreted to them. 

To the Seneca JVation of Indians, in the State of J^ew York. 

Brothers ! It is noAV about three years since your friends 
of the Yearly Meetings of New York, Philadelphia, and Balti- 
more, were informed of the difficulties in which you were in- 
volved with the Ogden Land Company. In the Eighth month, 
called August, in the year 1839, a large Committee of Friends 
came to see you, in order to inquire more fully into the 
causes of your trouble. We then learned that a treaty, dated 
January 15th, 1838, had been executed by a number of your 
chiefs, in which it was agreed, that the Seneca Indians, 
should, within five years, give up all their lands in the 
12 



90 

state of New York, and settle in the country beyond the 
state of Missouri. To this treaty the names of forty-five 
chiefs were attached. We also learned that a Deed of the 
same date, conveying to the Ogden Land Company, the tour 
reservations of Tonewanda, Buffalo, Cattaraugus, and AUegany, 
had been executed, and that the names of forty-three of your 
chiefs appeared on that deed. 

Brothers ! When we visited you at that time,, we also 
learned that the Government of the United States had not rati- 
fied that treaty, and that the Senate had made another, which 
was called " The Amended Treaty." This treaty was, by or- 
der of the Senate, to be explained to the Indians- m council, 
and then submitted to them for their signatures. This was 
done ; — but, as you have assured us, was neither approved nor 
signed by a majority of your chiefs. 

Brothers ! When your friends heard these things, their 
hearts were made sad. They believed that what you told 
them was true, and that you had been grievously wronged. 
Under this conviction, relying on the justice of your cause, and 
the good faith of the Government, they appealed to the Presi- 
dent of the United States, and to the National Legislature, in 
both houses of Congress, on your behalf. Documents shew- 
ing the manner in which "the Amended Treaty" had been 
executed, and fully illustrating your case, as it was represented 
to us by yourselves, were laid before the President and the other 
branches, of the Government. Yet, notwithstanding all our 
exertions, and the faithful labors of your friends in the Senate, 
the treaty was ratified and proclaimed, by the then President, 
as the law of the land. 

Brothers ! Ever since that time we have labored faith- 
fully to obtain a revision of that treaty, by the constituted au- 
thorities of our country. We have printed Books to spread 
the knowledge of your wrongs. We have been many times at 
Washington to plead your cause. We have solicited the aid 
of the Governments of New York and Massachusetts. We 
have spared no labor, no expense, no exertion to obtain relief 
for our Red brethren. 



91 

Brothers ! We are sorry to have to say to you that the 
difficulties and obstructions, which lay in our path, were so 
many and so great, that we could neither Avalk over them, nor 
remove them, out of the way. As soon as the treaty was rati- 
fied and proclaimed by the President of the United States, it 
became the supreme law of the land ; and the Deed, which 
had been signed by a number of your chiefs, vested certain 
legal rights in the Ogden Land Company, which, we have 
been told by men learned in the law, could not afterwards be 
taken from them by any Legislative action on the part of the 
Government. 

Brothers ! Under these circumstances we looked round 
on every side, and saw no certain way for the relief and pre- 
servation of your people, unless a compromise could be made 
between all the parties to that treaty, by which each of them 
should concede and give up something for the peace and har- 
mony of the whole. 

Brothers ! It was thought by some who were friendly to 
your cause; that you might finally obtain justice by an appeal 
to the Courts of Law, This subject has been seriously and 
anxiously considered by us ; — but when we took into view the 
heavy expenses of such an undertaking — the great length of 
time it might require to bring it to an issue — the unhappy 
effects of hostile proceedings upon all parties, and the un- 
settling and ruinous consequences of a tedious law-suit upon 
yourselves, we could not recommend that course to our Red 
brethren. 

Brothers ! After we had suffered much anxiety and trou- 
ble on your account, and the hope of obtaining any relief for 
you had begun to fail us, a way was opened for an accommo- 
dation, and settlement of all the difficulties, between the seve- 
ral parties to the present controversy. At a council held at 
Washington, on the 28th day of the First month, in the pre- 
sent year, between the Secretary of War, the Agents of the 
Ogden Land Company, and a delegation of Friends on behalf 
of the four Yearly Meetings of Genessee, New York, Philadel- 



92 

phia, and Baltimore, a plan of accommodation was proposed, 
and it was agreed to put it into the form of a treaty for your 
consideration. This was done ; it was carefully considered, 
and will now be laid before you. 

Brothers ! By this arrangement you may, if you please, 
continue to dwell on a part of the land which the Great Spirit 
gave to your forefathers. The two reservations of Cattarau- 
gus and Allegany will be restored to you, and will remain 
yours forever, or until you may choose to part with them. — 
For the two reservations of Tonewanda and Buffalo you will 
receive a price proportionate to the whole sum mentioned in 
the Deed before mentioned, dated January 15th, 1838, signed 
by many of your chiefs: and you will be paid for the improve- 
ments upon them at the same rate as agreed upon by those 
who executed the treaty of that date. Under this arrangement 
also, such of your people as may choose to remain in the state 
of New York, will have land sufficient for their accommoda- 
tion and subsistence, where they may enjoy the advantages to 
be derived from a surrounding population, skilled in agricul- 
ture and the arts of civilized life ; while such of them who may 
prefer a situation in the country beyond the river Mississippi, 
will be left at liberty to emigrate to that place, and take with 
them their share of the moneys and annuities of the nation •' 
and moreover they will be entitled to their portion of the lands, 
as well as to all the other advantages, secured to them by the 
treaty, which has already been ratified. If then there be two 
parties among you, the one an emigration party, and the other 
a domestic or non-emigration party, both may be accommoda- 
ted under the proposed arrangement. 

Brothers ! It is well known to you, that by your proxi- 
mity to the city of Buffalo, your people are exposed to the 
pernicious examples and contaminating influences of wicked 
men, by which many of you have been corrupted, and others 
much injured. Should you accept the proposed treaty, such of 
you as may remain on your New York lands, will be further 
removed from a situation, which has already been to you a 
source of much injury. 



93 

Brothers ! If it should appear to you proper to reject the 
present propositions, you will stand just as you stood before 
this attempt to effect a compromise was made. The Amended 
Treaty provides for the relinquishment of all your lands in the 
state of New York ; and at the same time requires your re- 
moval to the country beyond the state of Missouri. " The 
Supplemental Treaty" or compromise now proposed, leaves all 
of you at liberty ; — such as choose to go may go, and take their 
shares of the moneys and annuities of the nation ; — such as 
choose to stay may stay and enjoy all the advantages of a 
country already civilized and improved. We desire that you 
may seriously consider the proposition now before you. On 
your decision at this time, much of your future welfare de- 
pends. You must judge for yourselves. Your friends have 
come here to lay the contract before you, and to explain its 
provisions ; they have not come to dictate any thing to you, 
nor to direct you in your choice. 

Brothers ! We have done for you every thing that it was 
in our power to do. For more than two years we have 
labored faithfully in your cause. You will now know the re- 
sult of all our exertions in your behalf; and on this solemn oc- 
casion we feel concerned to say a few more words to you 
before we part. To those who may emigrate, and to those 
who may remain — or whether you all remain or all go away, 
our communication will be equally applicable to you. 

Brothers Listen ! You know that the white men have 
a written language. By this means we can look backward, 
and see clearly over the long path in which the red men and 
the white men have been walking, now more than two hundred 
years. We have seen that from the day when the while men 
first set their feet on your land, they have been increasing, and 
the red men have been decreasing. The white men^ are now 
very numerous and powerful — the red men are few in number 
and very feeble. Some of their nations are entirely extinct — 
their council-fires are gone out forever. Others have been 
greatly reduced — and the little remnants yet living, are poor. 



94 

and weak, and scattered abroad — some in one place and some 
in another. From the great water which lies towards the rising 
sun, to the great Mississippi, the father of rivers, a distance of 
almost one thousand miles, they have nearly all disappeared. 

Brothers! We have thought much of these things, and 
we believe that many of our red brothers have thought of them 
also. And now we feel it to be our solemn duty to open our 
minds to you. When great evils fall upon individuals, or na- 
tions, the wise men among them try to find out the cause ; and 
when they have found it, they endeavor, by the aid of the 
Great Spirit, to remove it out of the way. This is a duty as 
binding upon the red men as upon the white men. 

Brothers ! We all know that war, and strong liquors, 
and the small pox, as well as other contagious diseases, have 
destroyed many of the Indians, and greatly reduced their num- 
bers ; — but when there are no wars, and no contagious diseases 
among them, they still continue to decrease. We think that 
the use of strong liquors and the indolent mode of life, yet fol- 
lowed by many of your people, are the principal causes of this 
decrease. 

Brothers ! We have heard, with much pleasure, that on 
some of your Reservations, you have made great exertions to 
prevent the introduction and use of strong liquors among you. 
If you should succeed in your efforts, wholly to keep out this 
destructive drink, one fruitful cause of your misery and decrease 
will be removed. 

Brothers ! The Great Spirit, when he first made man, in - 
tended that he should labour. Moderate labour is good for 
his body and for his mind. It makes him strong and healthful. 
By industry and dihgence he is enabled to have a warm house, 
good clothing — plenty of wholesome food, and all the comforts 
of life in abundance. By these means also he is enabled to 
improve his mind by useful learning, and to give his children 
a good education. Thus one generation after another have the 
means of growing wiser and better ; and we believe that under 
such circumstances, nations always increase in numbers and 
become strong;. 



95 

Brothers ! You know that under the circumstances in 
which you are now placed, surrounded by a white population, 
the white men, by their intelligence, are constantly taking ad- 
vantages of you ; — which we believe will always be the case, 
until you are prepared, by a better education, and a more gen- 
eral acquaintance with the habits and customs of civilized life, 
to guard yourselves against them. We believe it essential to 
your prosperity, that you adopt a mode of living suited to your 
present condition. You can no longer live by the chase — 
you must either become cultivators of the earth, or cease to 
exist as a people. We understand that it is the will of the 
Great Spirit that man should till the ground, for without tillage 
it will not produce bread. Where this will is obeyed, there 
we generally see a prosperous and happy people. Where it is 
neglected, vice and misery, and want, and destruction come 
upon the nation. 

Brothers ! Some of you know that your friends, the 
Quakers, ever since they had settlements among you, at Alle- 
gany and Cattaraugus, now more than forty years, have preach- 
ed to you this doctrine. They laboured to persuade your 
people to become Farmers ; and bring up your children to 
agriculture, and to learn trades. They saw as plainly, as we 
see now, that this was the only way to preserve the Indian 
tribes from extinction. 

Brothers ! As our fathers preached to the Indians this 
doctrine more than forty years ago, so we now hold forth to 
you the same doctrine. We will not deceive you. We will 
open our hearts to you freely and plainly. We will teU you 
the truth. You did not take their advice then, and since that 
time your nation has been growing weaker and weaker. But 
we believe it is not yet too late to reform. If you will take our 
advice now — if you wdl bring up your sons to agriculture and 
the arts — if you will withdraw your women from the labours 
and drudgery of the field — if you will have your daughters 
taught to spin, and to sew, and to knit ; as well as to practice 
the other useful branches of housewifery — if you will set 



96 

your children an example of sobriety and the other virtues, 
then will your nation grow and increase, and become strong. 
But if you will not follow this advice, nothing your friends 
have done, or can do, for you, will save you from extinction. 
And the day is not very distant when, like the snow under a 
warm sun, your race will melt away and be seen of men no 
more. 

Signed, on behalf of the joint Committee on Indian affairs, 
of the four Yearly Meetings of Friends of Genessee, New York, 
Philadelphia and Baltimore. 

Buffalo, 4th mo. 9th, 1842. 



G. M. COOPER 
WM. S. BURLING. 



Genessee. 



VNe 



N. STARBUCK, 

JOHN LEGGETT, )> New York. 

S. J. UNDERHILL, 

BENJAMIN FERRIS, ) 

JOSEPH WARNER, } Philadelphia. 

JOHN JACKSON, ) 

MOSES SHEPPARD, ) ^ ,,. 
PHILIP E. THOMAS, J ^^mmore. 

In the course of the discussions which succeeded the fore- 
going speech, Israel Jemison, one of the chiefs, said he wished 
particularly to know, if the Ogden Company really had acquired 
vested rights under the supplementary treaty, and what consid- 
erations had led that Company to accede to this compromise 
arrangement. 

To which a member of the committee replied: — We will 
endeavor, in a few words, to inform the Council of the circum- 
stances which led to the compromise now proposed. 

When this subject was first brought to our knowledge, the 
amended treaty, together with a deed of conveyance, by which 
the Senecas had alienated the four several reservations of Tone- 
wanda, Buffalo, Cattaraugus and Allegany, had been executed. 
It was alledged by you, that very corrupt means had been em- 



97 

ployed in procuiing this deed and treaty ; and in your then dis- 
tressed situation, you soHcited our aid. 

The committees of the four Yearly Meetings, after taking the 
whole subject into consideration, and endeavoring to ascertain 
the best course for them to pursue, under the circumstances in 
which they found you placed, waited on the then President of 
the United States, in whose hands the treaty at that time was, 
and requested him to return it back to the Senate, in order that 
this body might have an opportunity to reconsider it. At the 
same time, they petitioned the Senate not to ratify it, and they 
also laid before both the President and Senate, all the evi- 
dences that had been furnished by you, of the improper means 
employed to procure the treaty. 

Notwithstanding all these representations, the treaty was 
finally ratified by the Senate, and subsequently it was formally 
proclaimed by the President. 

Finding that nothing could be gained for the relief of the 
Indians, by appeals to the President or Senate of the United 
States, the committee petitioned Congress not to furnish money 
to carry it into execution. — This, however, they were aware, 
could only produce a temporary suspension of the treaty, be- 
cause it was foreseen that, in the end, Congress would grant 
the money, and the treaty be carried into effect. 

As soon as your friends discovered that there was but little 
hope of defeating the treaty, in the Congress of the United 
States, they began to consider whether an appeal to the courts 
of law, on behalf of the Indians, might not be made. After ob- 
taining the best advice they could procure, in relation to this 
subject, they perceived that this would not be a discreet mea- 
sure, and should not be resorted to, but in the last extremity. 
It was certain that if adopted, it would consume a great length 
of time, and involve a large sum of money — while there was 
scarcely a hope that, in the end, it would result in any advan- 
tage whatever to the Indians. 

When they had arrived at this point, they began to despair 
of effecting any thing for your benefit, unless the Ogden Com- 
13 



98 

pany could be induced to enter into a compromise ; and they 
determined to make an effort to effect the best arrangement 
they could in that way. 

They saw that the treaty, as it now stood, however it might 
have been procured, had become the fixed law of the land — 
that the Ogden Company had acquired certain rights under it, 
which could not be taken from them by any legislation. That 
the treaty, having all the constitutional forms necessary to 
make it valid, would be so considered by the courts of the 
United States, and would be carried into effect. 

Considering that by the conditions of this treaty, the whole 
of the lands in your former reservations, had been ceded by the 
Indians ; and that within five years you would be driven from 
your homes, into a far distant wilderness — the committee were 
most anxious that this great calamity might be averted ; and 
after considering the matter very maturely, they concluded to 
open a correspondence with the Ogden Company. When the 
proposition for a compromise was first made to the agents of 
that Company, they promptly rejected it, and avowed that they 
did not want any compromise — that they had bought the 
lands and would take possession of them : consequently the 
first interview with them terminated without any prospect of 
success; 

An appeal was then made to the Secretary of War, and by 
his interposition a second interview, with an agent of the Com- 
pany, took place in the War Office, at Washington, at which 
the Secretary was present, and from that time he efFectively 
lent his aid to assist your friends in carrying out the proposed 
measure. 

The Ogden Company perceiving that not only the whole 
influence of the Society of Friends would be exerted against 
them, but also that we should have the assistance of the Gov- 
ernment, now listened to our overtures, and several interviews 
took place afterwards with the agents of that Company. After 
a great deal of labor and perseverance, the negotiations with 



99 

them resulted in the procuring tor you tfie return of the two 
reservations as now proposed by this treaty. 

We informed you when we came here, that it was our inten- 
tion to open our hearts to you freely. We will not conceal 
any thing from you. We therefore tell you plainly, that we 
have, after encountering many difficulties, and expended much 
time and labor, obtained for you the most favorable terms in 
our power. The Ogden Company have with difficulty been 
brought to agree to the terms of this treaty ; and it is our 
opinion, which we desire you distinctly to understand, that if 
the present terms are rejected, you will never be able to obtain 
as favorable ones hereafter. 

There are among you wise and judicious men, who understand 
your interests, and are capable of deciding what will best pro- 
mote the happiness and welfare of your nation. The question 
at issue, is now plainly before you. It is, will you prefer to 
occupy two of your reservations as now proposed, or will you 
relinquish the whole, according to the stipulations of the 
amended treaty, and remove to a distant wilderness. 

We repeat that it is not our purpose to dictate to you what 
course you shall pursue. The object of our coming here at 
this time, is to lay before you all the advantages we have been 
able to secure for you, that you may be made acquainted with, 
and fully understand your situation, and the alternatives before 
you. If, after considering the subject, there be any point upon 
which you may think our advice could be useful to you, you 
know we have always been your friends, and are disposed to 
render you our best service. Should you now, therefore, want 
our advice, we will endeavor, by the aid of the Great Spirit, to 
give you the best in our power. 

At the time we held the council with some of you at Farm- 
ington, you requested us to tell you when we had lost all hope 
of doing any thing for you : since then we have done all that 
we could. We found by the treaty, that you had alienated 
the whole of your lands. We have succeeded in obtaining the 



100 

restoration of a considerable part of them to you. and we have 
no hopes of effecting more. 

The treaty, as it is now offered to you, is not open to altera- 
tion or amendment. It must either be accepted or rejected as 
it is. This your friends have assented to, because we are con- 
vinced that, if it be once epened to alteration, matters might be 
introduced into it prejudicial to your interests, whilst there is no 
hope that any additional advantages whatever could be obtained 
for you." 

After a very laborious session, during Avhich the Indians went 
carefully over the whole ground embraced by the treaty, close- 
ly scrutinizing all its provisions, asking a great many questions, 
and most attentively weighing every answer, one of the chiefs 
rose and made the following speech. 

Brothers. You have now given us your communication, 
and explained the whole of your business, so that all our chiefs 
understand it. 

Brothers. You may expect that this subject will be 
thoroughly examined and discussed by the chiefs, and some 
determination will be come to, by them — we understand that 
one of your number will remain here to take our answer to 
you — we like that arrangement. 

Brothers. You are about to leave this council and our 
nation. We Avill take you by the hand, as our meeting is 
about to close Avith you. We hope you may return to your 
homes in safety, and that the Great Spirit will protect you in 
your journey, and enable you to reach your families in good 
health. 

Brothers. We must leave all things to the kind care of 
Him w^ho rules over the affairs of nations, and hope that our 
decision may be such as will promote the good of all, and be 
most for the advantage of our whole nation.'' 

At the time the Committee retired from the Council, it was 
concluded to leave one of our members with the Indians, to 
give them any further information which might be required 
during their deliberations. They continued in council until 



101 

the 15th of the Fourth month, inclusive, having been closely 
and constantly engaged in deliberation and discussion six 
whole days. 

The Friend who had remained with the Indians, until the 
close of the council, after the business of it was concluded, ad- 
dressed to a member of the joint Committee, the following 
letter : 

Buffalo Reservation, State of JVew York, 
itk Month 15th, 1842. 

Philip E. Thomas, 

My Dear Friend, 

After the committee of Friends had closed their labours, and 
withdrawn from the General council of the Senecas, on the 
11th of this month, 1 continued here, in accordance with the 
request of the Committee, and regularly attended the council 
every day, for the purpose of giving such further information, 
on behalf of Friends, as might be desired. 

The conditions of the proposed Supplemental Treaty had 
been so clearly opened, and explained to the Chiefs, that they 
appeared fully to understand all its provisions ; there was a 
very general attendance from the four reservations, and a de- 
liberate discussion, upon every article of the treaty, took place. 
The Council, which had been opened on the 9th instant, met 
daily, and did not close its session until this evening, when the 
question upon the receptance or rejection of the proposed 
Treaty was finally decided. 

In a letter, addressed by the Indians to the Secretary of 
War, and which they have requested me to transmit to the 
Committee, to be, by them, delivered, they say, 

" We agree to accept of the proposition for a Supplemental 
Treaty, as that Treaty has been read and explained to us, by 
the committee of the Society of Friends, and to give our assent, 
in due form, to said Treaty, when it shall be presented by the 
proper officers, on the part of the Government of the United 
States, and when the Ogden Company shall have complied 



102 

with the stipulations of said treaty on their part," and, " We 
request the Government to make the necessary arrangements 
for the execution of said Treaty, by sending the necessary 
officers, on the part of the Government of the United States, 
and of the State of Massachusetts, and of the Ogden Company, 
to meet us in council, on the Buffalo creek Reservation, on 
the 16th (lay of May next, or at the earliest convenience of 
the Government." 

This letter was signed by 79 Chiefs, which included all of 
them that were present, except two. 

Although the council have, as here stated, agreed to accept 
the Treaty, on the conditions offered, yet, at the same time? 
they have informed the Secretary of War, that they are very 
desirous to be allowed a longer time than is limited, to remove 
from the improved lands, now agreed to be relinquished ; and 
have also requested a modification of some of the other condi- 
tions, which they have explained to the Secretary, and re- 
quested the aid of Friends in effecting. 

The Council, in concluding their communication to the Se- 
cretary of War, further say, 

" We have strenuously maintained, and we still believe that 
the Seneca Nation, as such, never has assented to the sale of 
our lands, to the Ogden Company, but we think this compro- 
mise better for us, than to adopt any other means in our power, 
for obtaining redress. Yet as an injured and oppressed people, 
we throw ourselves upon the mercy of the Government ; en- 
treating, that if it be possible, the Government would obtain 
for us these proposed alterations. But if this cannot be done, 
we must submit to our fate." 

Notwithstanding we have not gained for the Indians all that 
we could have desired, yet it is a circumstance most gratifying 
to us, that by this arrangement, the forcible expulsion of these 
greatly injured people, from the country descended to them, 
from their forefathers, is prevented ; and that although, under 
this arrangement, they will be deprived of a portion of their 
lands, yet they will receive some compensation, for the part 



103 

now to be alienated, and it is believed will letain a sufficiency 
on which they may, with industry, secure a comtortable sub- 
sistence. 

Situated as we now are, our position towards these peoble 
has become one of deep responsibility — they are poor and feel 
very helpless — they believe there are none but the Society of 
Friends on whom they can safely rely, and they have an un- 
shaken confidence, that we will not desert them ; and this 
opinion has had a powerful influence upon their recent delibe- 
rations. 

They have arrived at a crisis, never before presented, and a 
large field for labour is about to open, in which their friends 
may use the means which a Benevolent Providence has put in 
their power, to rescue from extinction, and secure the civili- 
zation of this remnant of the Seneca Nation of Indians ; and 
I greatly desire that our hearts may respond to the call. The 
circumstances by which they are surrounded, and their almost 
universal desire for education, and improvement, in the arts 
of civilized life, conspire to ensure to our labours a favorable 
result, and to crown our exertions with a successful and happy 
conclusion. 

The council, which has just been dissolved, was closed with 
an expression of fervent gratitude to the Great Spirit, for his 
continued goodness, in keeping the chain of friendship bright, 
between their old friends, the Quakers, and the Seneca Na- 
tion , and with the expression of an earnest desire, that this 
friendship may never de dissolved until the Senecas shall cease 
to exist. 

It affords me a sincere gratification to be able to add, that by 
this effort, on the part of Friends, which is about to be brought 
to so happy a termination, the animosities that had been en- 
gendered amongst the Indians, by artfully designing indivi- 
duals, on the question of their emigration to the west, are 
likely to become healed ; and that peace and concord, will 
again be restored amongst them — all parties having appeared 
cordially to unite, in the final conclusions of the late Councils 



104 

and to have separated, with a manifestation of reciprocal good 
feelings towards each other. ^ 

Thy affectionate friend, 

G. M. COOPER. 

By the foregoing letter it'will be perceived that nearly all 
the chiefs of the Seneca nation attended this very important 
meeting ; the whole number being about ninety. Nearly all 
the chiefs of the Tonawanda Reservation were there, and they 
all excepting one, signed the assent to the treaty, and also the 
letter to the Government of the United States, requesting that 
arrangements might be made, and the proper officers sent, in 
order that the Treaty might be duly executed. The great 
unanimity of so large a body, on a subject so interesting to the 
nation, was an extraordinary circumstance, and a strong proof 
of their confidence in their old and long tried friends. Eighty- 
one chiefs were present, and all except two of them, signed 
the assent and the letter. 

The Government granted their request, and a time was fixed 
for consummating the treaty. The venerable Ambrose Spen- 
cer, farmerly Chief Justice of the State of New York, was ap- 
pointed a commissioner on the part of the United States, and 
Samuel Hoare, a commissioner on the part of Massachusetts. 
Abraham Dixon appeared as a Delegate from the Legislature of 
New York. Thomas L. Ogden and Joseph Fellows were 
present as representatives of the Ogden Land Company, and 
Philip E. Thomas, Moses Sheppard, Joseph S. Walton, Benja- 
min Ferris, John Leggett, Griffith M. Cooper, and Isaac Post, 
represented the four Yearly Meetings. 

The Council, for the consummation of the treaty, met pur- 
suant to the arrangement made by the Government authorities. 
It was held at the Buffalo creek reservation, and sat from the 
16th of the Fifth month, to the 20 of the same, inclusive, 1842. 
It was opened by Stephen Osborn, the Indian Agent appointed 
by the United States. The session continued five days, and 
closed, after a ratification of the Treaty, by a vote of ffiy-sics 



105 

in lavor of it, and sixteen against it, those in the negative being 
mostly Tonewandas. 

By this treaty there was restored to the Seneca nation two 
reservations, containing together 52,143 acres, principally of 
rich, fertile land, giving to each family more than one "hundred 
acres. They were thus enabled to remain on their native soil, 
and to avoid a ruinous emigration to a distant and sickly coun- 
try, ill adapted to their present habits, — surrounded by savage 
and warlike tribes, — and scantily supplied with timber. As was 
anticipated by their friends, experience has demonstrated, that 
the. fatal consequences of such a removal, were not imaginary. 
During the past summer, as will be seen in this narrative, 
sixty-two Senecas, mostly of the old emigration party, — forty- 
one Cayugas, — eight Onondagas, and a number of vagrant In- 
dians of other tribes, — were induced to emigrate to the lands, 
allotted them by the Government, west of the Mississippi, 
of these, before the end of six months, nearly one half were dead, 
and some of the rest, in a miserable emaciated condition, have 
straggled back to their old homes. An application by their 
brethren has, as will hereinafter be seen, been made to the In- 
dian Department, for assistance to bring the remainder again 
into the state of New York. 

Although the abandonment of the two Reservations of Buf- 
falo and Tonewanda to the Ogden Land Company, in the 
manner already described, was a grievous wrong to the Indians, 
and a subject of painful regret to their friends ; yet, as we 
know, that a kind and overruling Providence, "from seeming 
evil, still educes good," we are not without a hope, that it may 
prove so in the present case. The proximity of the tBufTaio 
tribe to a large and populous city, was attended by many cir- 
cumstances, which were very obviously, exceedingly injurious 
to the Indians, and degrading to their character. Their removal 
to Cattaraugus will greatly abate these evils. The scattered situ- 
ation of the remnant of the Senecas, numbering only about 2500 
persons, and occupying 114,000 acres of detached land, was un- 
favorable to their improvement. Under such circumstances it 
14 



106 

was impossible, with the means in our power, to maintain a 
number of schools, sufficient for the education of their children. 
Many of the advantages of social intercourse cannot be enjoyed 
by an indigent people, living remote from each other. By 
the concentration of greater numbers at Cattaraugus, these evils 
have already been much diminished. 

After the execution of the treaty of 1842, the Indians, feeling 
themselves more certain of a home, began to remove to their 
remaining Reservations — to clear their lands — and extend their 
agricultural operations. The hand of industry was seen on all 
sides. New settlements were made, — commodious dwellings 
were erected, — barns built, and their fields inclosed with new 
and substantial fences. But they had not long enjoyed this 
happy condition, before a retrospective view of their painful 
and disastrous struggle with the Ogden Land Company, induced 
many of them to inquire, what there was, in their present posi- 
tion, to secure them from a renewal of the struggle, and a final 
loss of all their lands. It was in vain that their friends assured 
them, they held an absolute and indefeasible title to their re- 
maining Reservations, and that no power could legally dispos- 
sess them, without their own consent. But they had not for- 
gotten that General Washington, when President of the Uni- 
ted States, in a speech to their great and distinguished Chief, 
CoRNPLANTER, had givon them the same assurance. "Hear 
weU," said that dignified statesman, "and let it be heard by 
every person in your nation, the President of the United States 
declares, that the General Government considers itself bound 
to protect you in all your land, secured to you by the treaty at 
Fort Stftnwix, in 1784." — "In future you cannot be defrauded 
of your lands: — Yom possess the right to sell your lands, and 
therefore the sale of your lands in future will depend entirely 
on yourselves." 

In addition to this solemn pledge, given them by their 
" great Father," the President of the United States, they had, 
in reply to an address that had been delivered from their na- 
tion to Dewitt Clinton, when Governor of the state of New 
York, received a similar assurance, viz. 



107 

" All the right that Ogden and his Company have [to your 
Reservations,] is the right to purchase them, when you deem 
IT EXPEDIENT TO SELL THEM — that is, they Can buy your 
lands, but no other person can. 

"You may retain them as long as you please. No man 
shall deprive you of them, without your consent. The state 
will protect you in the full enjoyment of your property." 
[Stone's Life and Times of Red Jacket, page 309, 310.] 

Notwithstanding these solemn assurances, the poor Senecas 
have from that day to the present, seen their princely domain, 
embracing millions of acres of the finest land in America, melt 
away like snow beneath a summer sun. Under the manage- 
ment of grasping and unprincipled land speculators, they have 
seen nearly all that splendid country, lying between the Sene" 
ca Lake and the Niagara River, taken from them. None of it 
was left to them but four or five small reservations. Notwith- 
standing the promise that the General Government would " pro- 
tect them in their possessions," and the assurance that they 
could not be defrauded of their lands, they had, even within 
three years, seen two of the largest and best of their reserva- 
tions, wrested from them by 2. fraudulent treaty, and that treaty 
sanctioned by the very Government, which the great and mag- 
nanimous Washington had declared was " bound to protect 
them /" 

Well might this small remnant of a nation, " peeled and 
scattered" as they had been, inquire "what there was in their 
present position to secure them from a final loss of the little 
remains of their 'once extensive territory." Experience had 
taught them that the avarice of the white man is as insatiable 
as death, — and that their own chiefs were not invulnerable to 
the seductive influences of bribery and corruption. Influenced 
by these reflections, they became restless and dissatisfied. 
They called a council in the winter of 1S42, '43, to consider 
the subject, and after much discussion, finding themselves un- 
able to discover a remedy for the evil, they agreed to refer the 
whole matter to Friends. 



108 

By an arrangement with the Indians, a delegation of Friends 
met them in council, on the 22d of the Sixth month, 1843, in 
the council house, at Cattaraugus. Before embarking in this 
concern it was thought proper to inform the Indian Department 
of this appointment, and of our desire to attend the council. 
To this request we received the following answer. 

War Department, Office or Indian Affairs, > 
June 20t/i, 1843. 5 
Sir, 

I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 10th 
instant, asking permission for a deputation of Friends to be pre- 
sent at a council of Indians, to be held at Cattaraugus, on the 
20th inst. There certainly can be no objection to granting this 
request, and the Department anticipates much benefit to the 
Indians, from the good counsels of the members of your Society. 

I regret the delay in answering your letter, which I beg 
leave to assure you was entirely accidental. 

Very respectfully, your most obedient servant, 

T. HARTLEY CRAWFORD. 

P. E. Thomas, Baltimore, Md. 

The council being duly opened, an elderly chief made a 
short speech thanking the Great Spirit for our preservation, and 
for his goodness, in permitting them once more to meet us, and 
then added " We are. glad to see you at this time. We greatly 
need your counsel and advice in the present critical situation 
of our affairs, — we are thankful for what you have heretofore 
done, by aiding and advising us, and we hope you will be en- 
abled to give us advice at the present time." 

"Brothers. We pray the Great Spirit to bless your labors 
among us, and that we may pursue such a course as will be for 
our real benefit." 

The minutes of the former council were then read, by which 
it appeared, that the Indians had had under consideration, the 
subject of a better security for their lands, in the State of New 
York ; and had requested the assistance of Friends in enabling 
them to accomplish this desirable object. We were now 



109 

called upon by them to say whether any thing had been done, 
and whether there was any prospect of effecting that object. 

The Indians were informed, that owing to dissentions which 
had existed among them, in relation to the treaty of 1842, and 
to information we had received, that some of their chiefs had 
petitioned the Government to annul that treaty, we had con- 
cluded to do nothing in the matter of their request, until we 
could have a personal interview with them, to ascertain clearly 
and distinctly their wishes as a nation, and that it was for this 
purpose we had now met them in counci. 

The chiefs now entered into discussion among themselves, 
in which the emigration party, who had opposed the treaty, 
actively participated. After a warm debate, a committee was 
appointed from the different reservations, to take the subject 
into consideration, and report to a future sitting of the council. 
, On the following day the council again convened, when the 
committee produced the following report, to wit: 

" The committee to whom was referred the subject of the 
Title to the Lands of the Senecas, having met with the com- 
mittee of Friends, now attending the Council, and heard their 
views, have upon consideration agreed to report, to wit : 

"That in order to obtain a more effectual security to the 
Title of our Lands, application be made to the Legislature of 
New York, to pass a law authorizing us to convey, in Trust, all 
our Lands to that state. — Conditioned 1st. That the state can- 
not hereafter alienate it without the consent of two- thirds of 
the male population of the Senecas, of the lawful age of 21 
years, in Council assembled, — and 2d. That the Seneca nation 
cannot hereafter alienate it without the consent of this state. — 
The said Trust to continue so long as the pre-emptive claim to 
the Lands of the Senecas shall exist. But in case it shall be 
ascertained by consulting good legal counsel, that such con- 
veyance in Trust cannot be made, or is not the best method of 
securing such Title — then some other plan should be adopted 
to effect this desired object. 

" In order to carry out this object, we propose that the pre- 



• 110 

sent council appoint a committee, to co-operate with Friends, 
with instructions to consult the best legal authority on the sub- 
ject, and report to a future council of the nation, for its consid- 
eration, what course is the wisest and best for the Senecas 
to pursue, to accomplish this object. Which is respectfully 
submitted. 

Signed, 

GEORGE LINDSEY, 
M. B. PIERCE, 
SAMUEL GORDEN, 
ISAAC SHANKS, 
HENRY TWO GUNS, 
TUNIS HALFTOWN, 
JACOB BLACKSMITH." 

This Report was succeded by a highly animated debate, in 
which there appeared great conflict of opinion, in relation to 
the policy and effect of the measures proposed. Some thought 
the only way to render the tenure of their lands secure, was 
to hold them in severalty, — some thought they should be held 
by Friends, in trust, for the use of the nation; whilst others 
objected to any change in the present mode of holding them. 
During this discussion, Friends were repeatedly called upon 
for their opinion and advice, on particular points, which was 
freely given. The operation and effects of the arrangement 
proposed by their own Committee, were shown; and the pro- 
bable consequences of leaving the power to sell their lands, 
in the hands of their chiefs, were plainly indicated. Finally 
they were advised to adopt and carry into effect the Report of 
their own Committee. 

Various attempts had evidently been made to impress up- 
on the Indians, as well as others, an apprehension that, but 
for our interference in bringing about the Treaty of 1842, 
these Indians might have retained all their lands in the 
state of New York; or in other words, that by this interference 
we had in effect co-operated with the Ogden Company, 



Ill 

in depriving these people of their two Reservations at Tone- 
wanda and Buffalo. It is therefore due to all parties, that 
a plain authentic narrative of the circumstances connected 
with this whole matter, should be here given, not only for the 
information of our own members, who are directly implicated 
in the transaction, but to disabuse the public. 

In a paper published in Philadelp^hia, entitled the The 
Friend, under date of the 4th month 29, 1843, there is a syn- 
opsis of the proceedings of the late Orthodox Yearly meeting 
in that city, in which, among other matters, is the following 
notice of a Report received from a Committee of that meetiag 
as follows: 

"The Report from the Indian Committee was painfully in- 
teresting. Through the influence of the Separatists and inter- 
ested persons, the Treaty of 1838 has been irrevocably fixed — 
though Friends had taken much pains to have an inquiry into 
the manner it was obtained, instituted by Government, and a 
strong hope was entertained that it would be annulled. The 
Indians were induced to sign a Supplemental Treaty last springy 
by which they gave up to the pre-emption holders the Buffalo 
and Tonewanda Reservations, comprising about 62,000 acres 
of their Lands, and much the most valuable. None of the 
Tonewanda Chiefs signed the Treaty, but earnestly protested 
against it.'' 

That this Report contains a misrepresentation must be ob- 
vious to any one acquainted with the history of the Treaty of 
1838. That Treaty was never "irrevocably fixed.'' It was re- 
jected by the Senate — was superseded by the amended Treaty 
of 1840, and never afterwards claimed any attention of the 
Government, but remains to this day a dead letter. The Com- 
mittee which made that Report either did not understand the 
subject; or have wilfully misrepresented it. their statement 
contains witliin itself a palpable contradiction. The Treaty 
of 1638 stipulated for the alienation of the four Reserva- 
tions. If that treaty had been "irrevocably fixed," then all 
the Reservations of Alleghany, Cattaraugus, Buffalo, and 



112 

Tonewanda, would have been, to this day, the property 
of the Ogden Land Company. And we leave it to that 
Committee to reconcile, their assertion with their subse- 
quent statement, when they say "The Indians were induced to 
sign a Supplemental Treaty last spring [4th mo. 1842] by 
which they gave up to the pre-emption holders, the Buffalo 
and Tonewanda ReserviXtions, conia'm'ing 6-2,000 acres of their 
land." Now it must be obvious to the most obtuse intellect, 
that if the treaty of 1S38, or even the amended treaty of 1840, 
had been "irrevocably fixed," these Indians in 1842 would 
have had no lands to "give up." It is therefore evident that 
these assertions are both incorrect The truth is, by the treaty 
of 1842 they did not give up any land at all. On the contrary, 
by that treaty they received back 52,14.3 acres, which had been 
wrested from them by the amended treaty of 1840, and which 
were restored to them by the influence of our Commmittees, un- 
der the treaty of 1842, as is plainly sliown by the letter to them^ 
from the War Department, dated 21st. of April, 1843. , [See 
page 116.] 

The authors of this charge against the great' body of the So- 
ciety of Friends, composing the four Yearly Meetings of Gen- 
esse. New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, whom these ac- 
cusers are here pleased to term "Separatists," had long before 
they made this charge upon us, been applied to by these very 
Indians, and had actually declined to render them any assistance 
to retain their land. [See speeches of Israel Jamison and Se- 
neca White, in the general council, at the Buffalo Reservation? 
1843, pages 114, 115, 116.] 

These speeches also show, that they had actually advised 
these Indians to abandon their lands and remove to the west ! 
Under this plain developement of facts, it would seem difficult 
to account for the grave charge here gratuitously brought a- 
gainst us. Had our accusers been less influenced by hostile 
feelings, and more by a disposition to give a candid account of 
the whole matter, they would hardly have made this state- 
ment. 



113 

The treaty of 1838, by which the lands of the Senecas had 
in the first instance been ceded, was not made, as our accusers 
have asserted "through the influence of the Separatists" and 
others. It was made before Friends were consulted., or had 
taken any part in the matter. The amended treaty of 1840, by 
which that cession was consummated, was made in opposition 
to our most earnest remonstrance, after we had clearly shown 
its fraudulent character. Yet we see an attempt is here made, 
to throw the odium of that measure upon us: first, by en- 
deavoring to fasten upon us, an invidious name, and then charg- 
ing, that but for our influence, and the influence of other per- 
sons interested "a strong hope was entertained that it [the 
treaty] would be annulled. 

The ground upon which this "strong hope" rested was, as 
we are to understand, that our accusers "had taken much pains 
to have aninquiry into the manner the treaty had been obtain- 
ed" ! Had they pursued their inquiry to the proper issue, 
they would have discovered that something more than mere 
inquiry was necessary to annul a treaty which had legally vest- 
ed in the Ogden Land Company the whole of the four Reser- 
vations. They Would have discovered that no Legislation of 
our country could legislate, .iway an estate which had been 
assured to its possessors by the supreme law of the land. In 
a word, they would have discovered that a treaty which had 
been .made by three parties^ could not be abrogated by one of 
them, without the consent of the others 

On reference to the following extracts from a Report by the 
Committee on Indian affairs to the Senate, in 1846, upon an 
application made in behalf of the Tonewandas, a branch of 
the Seneca nation, to obtain a restoration of a portion of the 
very lands now in question, it will be seen, how far the "much 
pains to inquire into the manner this treaty was obtained" 
justified the "strong hope'' here so corifidenlly expressed, viz: 

" The main question submitted to the Committee and now 
to the Senate is, whether it is competent for the government 
of the United States to annul the provisions of a treaty, upon 



114 

the application of one of the parties to it, or without the concur- 
rence and approbation of all the parties. The Committee are 
clearly of t!ie opinion that it is not, and that the treaty can on- 
ly be dissolved by and with the consent of all the parties to it. 
It is said that no one of the Tonewanda band ever signed the 
treaty, and that it was a fraud upon them; and that fraud viti- 
ates the treaty, and renders it void ah initio.^'' "The Com- 
mittee are of the opinion, that upon the allegation of fraud, or 
of misrepresentation, or of non-representation, to annul and 
set aside an Indian tieaty, would not only tend strongly to 
unsettlo the whole of our Indian policy, but would open a 
field of interminable difficulty, embarrassment and expense. 
They therefore recommend the adoption of the following re- 
solution. 

" Resolved, That the prayer of the petitioners ought not to 
be granted.'' 

In full confirmation that no small efforts had been exerted 
to make an unfavorable impression on the minds of the Indi- 
ans towards us, we refer to the following extracts from 
the proceedings of a General Council of the Seneca Chiefs 
held at the Buffalo Reservation in 1843, viz: 

"Israel Jemison stated that while in Philadelphia, he was 
informed, that a division had taken place in the society of 
Friends, and went on to show that his mind had been influen- 
ced against us by representations made to him by the Friends 
in Philadelphia, who were not of our party, and who had told 
him that they had no confidence in us; and advised the Indians 
to have nothing to do with us. He stated that himself and 
others had been sent by the nation, to Philadelphia, to ask as- 
sistance of the society of Friends, after the Treaty of 1838 
was ratified, and that they first applied to the party there op- 
posed to us, who advised them to remove west, and professed 
to be willing to assist them in doing so. He said the deputa- 
tion then called upon that part of the society to which we be- 
long, and solicited their aid. As soon as the other party found 
these Chiefs had interviews with us, they from that mo- 



115 

raent declined any further communication with them, because 
they had no friendship for us — nor confidence in us." Jemison 
then added, "that he had asked these Friends, (two of whom 
he named,) what they would do if a great log lay in their path, 
which they could not themselves remove, and those who they 
now warned him against, offered to assist them, would they 
not accept the offer ? To this they replied, that they would 
not! This, he said, convinced him, that they had no confi- 
dence in us How then could he have any?" 

Seneca White then rose and stated, " that he had been 
appointed by the Chiefs last evening, to say a few words which 
he wished the committee to listen to, as the voice of the Sene- 
ca nation — and he would noAv proceed to discharge the duty 
entrusted to him. 

"We want you to understand that it is difficult for the Indians 
to comprehend at once all your propositions and counsel, and 
because of this misunderstanding, there may arise unpleasant 
remarks — which originate from ignorance, more than from bad 
motives. It is true, we did ask assistance of both parties of the 
Society of Friends ; — the party opposed to you, considering 
our case hopeless, advised us to remove west — we consulted you 
on the subject of our affairs, when our Lands were taken from 
us by the Treaty of 1838, you did not advise us to go, and said 
you would do all you could for us — we are satisfied with what 
'you have done, and believe it was the best that could be done 
for us, under the circumstances of the case. 

'•We Avish you to understand that our confidence in you has 
not been shaken — we have not abated in our friendship for 
you, nor in our desire for your help and assistance. It is the 
wish of this nation that you should continue to assist the Indi- 
ans — they have no others to look to, but to the Society cf 
Friends. The Chiefs are sensible that they are not competent 
to manage the difficulties which frequently arise between us and 
the Ogden Company, They therefore look to you to render 
them advice and assistance in the present critical state of the 
affairs of thf nation. 



116 

"Our affairs at present are very difficult — we hope you will 
not think it strange if we should trouble you many times by 
asking your advice and counsel. Our path is so difficult, that 
we cannot walk in it without your advice and assistance. I 
have now said all that I was requested to say on behalf of the 
Chiefs, and will only repeat, in conclusion, that the confidence 
of this nation in you, has not been disturbed, and they wish 
you to continue to feel an interest in our welfare." 

How Friends, under this plain statement of the matter, can 
justly be charged with having co-operated in depriving these 
Indians of any part of their Lands, every one will judge for 
himself. How far they have been instrumental in procuring 
the restoration of the portion now returned to them, will be 
seen by the following letter, addressed to the Chiefs from the 
War Department, in reply to a communication sent by them, 
to the President of the United States, complaining of the Treaty 
of 1842, which dissatisfaction was no doubt the effect of the 
insiduous attempts to prejudice them against their Friends, af- 
ter they had been the means of securing that recession and 
Treaty. 

(copy.) 

"War Department, Office of Indians Jiffairs, > 
^pril 21, 1843, ] 

"My Friends, , 

Your letter of the first of Febuary last, to the Presi- 
dent of the United States, has been referred to this office, with 
instructions to me to answer it. I am sorry to discover that 
dissatisfaction exists amongst you, and trust that I may be able 
to show you all, that it is without cause. 

"The nation had alienated and sold all your Land, by the 
Treaty of 1838. The last Treaty of May, 1842 was brought 
about by great exertions of your friends, who are still your 
best friends, and by the friendly countenance and aid of the 
War Department. This Treaty brings back to you two of your 
Reservations, and provides for you a home in New York, when 



117 

you had parted from all your Lands there, by the first Treaty; 
and but for the last, you must have removed west This sure- 
ly is a great accommodation to you; and besides, you are to 
be paid for the two Reservations you have parted with. The 
last Treaty has been ratified and confirmed by the United States, 
and you must remove; any attempt at remaining will be fatal 
to you, and I advise you as a friend, quietly to remove to the 
Reservations that are left to you. 

Your friend, 

T. HARTLEY CRAWFORD. 

To the Chiefs of the New York Indians, 

Jemmy Johnson, Henry Two Guns and others. 
Akron, N. York. 

Notwithstanding this friendly admonition, from official au- 
thority, given with the kindest intentions, by the head of the 
Indian Bureau, who had uniformly manifested a paternal re- 
gard for these Indians, yet, contrary to our repeated advice, 
they were still counselled to persevere in their determination to 
resist the treaty, and refused to avail of the opportunity offer- 
ed them, to settle on either the Alleghany or Cattaraugus 
Reservations. 

The Buffalo Indian?, who followed the advice of Friends, 
gradually removed to Cattaraugus. The moneys they received 
for the improvements they had relinquished, they appropriated 
to the erection of comfortable dwellings, and opening new 
farms. Their children are now receiving an education to fit 
them for civilized society. In the mean time the poor delud- 
ed Tonewandas, after being kept for years in a state of unset- 
tledness — perplexity and anxiety, are now to be hurried oft' en 
masse without tlie necessary preparation, to seek homes where 
they best may find them, or to ruin themselves by expensive, 
and useless law suits. 

The delegation having accomplished the objects of their visit, 
previous to withdrawing from the council, one of their number 
addressed the Indians as follows : 



118 

" Brothers! We are now about to leave you, in order to 
return to our respective homes, and before we part we wish to 
say a few words to you. Our forefathers and your forefathers 
made a covenant with each other, in which they mutually 
promised that their friendship should continue so long as the 
sun and the moon should endure. We do not wish that friend- 
ship broken. We profess the same principles by which our 
forefathers were governed in their benolent endeavors to im- 
prove the condition of your people — we speak the same lan- 
guage which they spoke to you. When we look back and re- 
member what was your situation when our fathers first came 
to see you in the wilderness — when you had but a very small 
portion of your land cultivated, and your people were much 
given to intemperate habits, to the great injury of your nation, 
and compare your situation then to what it is now, it is cheer- 
ing to us to see the improvement you have already made, not 
only by discarding the use of spirituous liquors, but also in 
your mode of procuring the necessaries of life by cultivating 
the earth. This is encouraging to us, and we believe your 
comforts wiU continue to increase as you improve in habits of 
temperance and industry. 

" Brothers ! Our fathers long ago advised you to with- 
draw your women from the labors of the field, that they might 
attend to domestic employments — this is their proper business 
— while the men should engage more extensively in agricultural 
employments, and in those trades and occupations that will 
promote the good of the whole community. This advice we 
repeat to you, and desire to impress upon your minds the im- 
portance of attending to it. 

We affectionately exhort you to become united, and live in 
peace with one another and with all men. This is one of the 
greatest blessings you can enjoy. It will enable you to over- 
come many difficulties, and will be a source of great encour- 
agement and gratification to your friends. If you live in peace 
the Great Spirit will be with you, and His blessing will rest 
upon you. 



119 

" We wish you to keep your children steadily at school, and 
thus secure to them that moral and literary instruction that will 
elevate them to the rank of intelligent good citizens, and crown 
with full success the long and patient labors of your friends, 
for the happiness and prosperity of the Seneca nation. 

Brothers ! Notwithstanding we have made a long journey 
to see you, and have encountered many trials, yet we are glad 
that we have had the opportunity of shaking hands with our 
Indian brethren, assuring them of the interest we feel in their 
welfare — and we wish that our parting may be under feelings 
of mutual friendship and good will. Sincerely desiring for 
you the protection of the Great Preserver of men, whose pro- 
vidential eye is upon you as well as upon us, I bid you for 
myself and for the Friends now present — farewell." 

Governor Blacksnake, a very aged chief, supposed to be 
near one hundred years old, who had attended all the sittings 
of the council, and had travelled forty miles on horse-back, in 
one day, that he might be present, now rose and made the fol- 
lowing concluding remarks : 

"Brothers and Friends ! You have now taken leave of 
us, and are about to go — before we separate I wish to say a few 
words in conclusion. The communication you have made — 
and the advice you have given us is intended for our instruc- 
tion that we may become a happy and a prosperous people. 

" You have advised us how to conduct our business — you 
have told us that our women should be taken from the field, 
and employed in the house, and that the men should attend to 
the employment of the field; you have also given us some 
general instructions for the whole — aU that you have said is 
correct — you spoke also with regard to the instruction of our 
children, that they might become intelligent and useful citizens; 
we thank you for this advice — we wish you to understand that 
all these things are in progression, but we are happy to hear 
you repeat these things to us. 

" Now in conclusion we will endeavor to remember you in 
our prayers, that you may return safely to your homes — we 



J 20 

will also hope that at some future day, we may be permitted 
to meet you again. We are glad you continue to feel so much 
interest in our welfare. It is a long time since our fathers 
have covenanted with your fathers that there should be a 
friendship between you and us. 

" We have remembered all these things — we now put them 
all together — we feel grateful for your kindness — we are also 
happy to see our friends and sisters, that are with you, who 
have come here for the purpose we suppose, of looking into 
the condition of the Indians — we return our thanks for their 
kindness. This is all we have to say, now you are about to 
retire." 

The business of the council having been brought to a satis- 
factory close, it was now adjourned; having first Resolved^ 
with a single dissenting voice, to abide and carry out the treaty 
of 1842 ; and secondly, determined immediately to call on the 
Government to see that the treaty be faithfully executed on its 
part, as well as on the part of the Ogden Company. In these 
proceedings the Tonewando chiefs cordially united, of course 
the late schism, which had unhappily been produced between 
these sections of the Seneca nation, it is hoped, is healed. 

In order to carry out the decision of this council for obtain- 
ing further security for their lands, the Seneca nation, as a pre- 
liminary measure, m a General Council held in the year 1845, 
Resolved to reorganize and change the form of their govern- 
ment. After mature and deliberate consideration, they, with 
great unanimity adopted the following " Constitutional Ordi- 
nance," for the future government of the nation, copies of 
which were duly delivered to the governors of New York, and 
Massachusetts, and to the President of the United States ; as 
formal and official notice to those authorities, of the only con- 
ditions on which the lands of the Seneca nation, could hereaf- 
ter be alienated. 



121 



A Constilulional Ordinance of the Seneca JVation, in General 
Council Assembled. 

Whereas, the usage, practice and custom of the Seneca 
nation of Indians, to sell and dispose of their lands by the con- 
sent and agreement of a majority of their chiefs, without the 
express consent of the warriors and people of the nation, has in 
these latter days of our weakness and limited territory, given 
great uneasiness to our people, and created an apprehension 
among them, that while this power continues to be thus vested, 
their homes will be insecure, and has impressed them with the 
belief, that they and their children must lie in continual fear 
that their lands will be sold without their consent, and the 
deepest misery thus entailed upon them and their posterity. 
And, whereas, a general council of the whole nation was con- 
vened at the council house at the Cattaraugus reservation, on 
the 28th day of January, 1845, for the purpose of considering 
this subject, and of so altering our political usages and organiza- 
tion as after mature deliberation, it should be deemed wise and 
expedient. And whereas, also, the Sachems, Chiefs, and 
Headmen of the said nation, duly assembled in such council, 
have after full discussion and mutual deliberation, determined 
that the welfare of the nation, and the security, prosperity, and 
happiness of their people require, that the express assent of the 
warriors and people, as well as of the chiefs of the nation, 
should be necessary to a valid sale or disposition of their lands : 
Therefore, we the chiefs and representatives of the Seneca 
nation of Indians in such general council assembled, acting for 
and in behalf, and by the authority of the said nation, and in 
the exercise of the inalienable right of the said nation to alter 
and modity their political customs and usages, when it becomes 
necessary for their security, prosperity, and happiness, do here- 
by, in the name and behalf, and by the authority of the said 
Seneca nation, resolve, determine, ordain, publish and declare, 
that our political usages, customs, organizations, and constitu- 
tion be, and the same are herebv altered and amended, so that 
16 



122 

no sale or disposition of the whole, or any part of our lands 
hereafter to be made, shall be valid or of any effect, unless the 
same be made in full and open council of the chiefs and war- 
riors of the nation, and by the express assent of two-thirds of 
the chiefs, and of two-thirds of the whole residue of the male 
population of the nation of the age of twenty-one years, whether 
attending such council or not, such assent to be given in wri- 
ting, under the hands and seals of the parties in full and open 
council of the chiefs and warriors of the nation, assembled to- 
gether in one council ; but nothing herein contained shall in 
any manner alter, change, effect, lessen or diminish, the rights, 
powers, duties, privileges or authority of the chiefs in any other 
matter or respect whatever. 

And we do further resolve and determine, that this 
ordinance or act of the nation, be entered at length in the re- 
cords of this council, and that four copies thereof be signed by 
the chiefs assenting thereunto, one of which copies shall be de- 
livered to the President of the United States, with the request 
that the same may be deposited with the archives of the United 
States ; one of which shall be presented to the Governor of this 
State, with a request that it be sanctioned by the State and 
filed with its Records ; one of which shall be presented to 
the Governor and Council of Massachusetts, with the request 
that it may be deposited among the archives of that common- 
wealth, and kept in perpetual remembrance by its Governor 
and Council, and the other of which shall be deposited and 
kept with the archives and records of the Seneca nation. 

Done and Signed in open council at Cattaraugus, the 
thirtieth day of January, 1845. 

JOHN SENECA, 
and 49 other chiefs. 

The Senecas afterwards signed and presented to the Legis- 
lature of the State of New York, the following petition, for the 
purposes therein expressed. 



123 



TO THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

The Petition of the Seneca JVation of Indians. 
Respectfully represent 

That the Seneca nation, once the powerful and courted ally 
of sovereign nations, have dwindled away into a weak band, 
depending for its very existence upon the protection of the 
General Government, and of the State of New York. Their 
lands too have been torn away from them, and they stand now 
only upon four insignificant parcels of the broad territory they 
once covered with their people. Of these four reservations, 
two and the best two, they are told have been sold by their 
chiefs to the Ogden Company, and the Alleghany and Cattar- 
augus reservations yielding each individual of the nation scarce- 
ly twenty-five acres a piece, are the last of their possessions. 

You are the guardians of our nation. Consider our condi- 
tion, and protect and shelter us. The Great Spirit made the 
red man as well as the white man, we are brothers. The 
Great Spirit looks down upon the world. He will ask you, 
'• where is your weak red brother whom I put in your hands 
that you might guide and guard him ? ' 

We are failing fast, we can find no safety unless it be under 
the shadow of your Laws. Our old men have thought deep- 
ly, — they tell us so. 

We are poor and ignorant. We know not what will be good 
for us. We ask you to think for us and act for us. We will 
tell you our griefs and our fears. We wish to live in this land> 
once all our own, near our white friends, who will be the 
friends of our children, that they who come after us may look 
out from the dark places where we have been driven, and 
bring in the lights of the wise men, morality, learning industry 
and the arts; that they may become white in soul, and your 
people and our people become one. 

Let not our lands be taken from us. If our chiefs can sell 
our lands the white buyer will come to the edge of our reser- 
vations with money, and whiskey, and promises of lands, and 



124 

will call over the chiefs, one by one, and talk with them, and 
there will be a council and long talk : and when the council 
has broken up chief after chief will put his mark to some paper 
in the woods, or in his wigwam or in some grog shop, or law- 
yer's office, and our children will have no land to stand on. 
These things have been. Let them be so no longer. The 
humblest member of the nation has as much interest in its 
land as its most powerful Sachem. Our young men have a 
greater interest than our old men, for they have a longer time 
to spend ere they go to the land of spirits. A few men may 
be corrupted, but the nation cannot be, or if it can, it is not 
worthy of protection. 

The white man cuts our timber. The white man's law 
makes him pay money for it, and puts the money into some 
other white man's pocket. Why not make him pay it to the 
Indian ; we go into your courts, and we are told, " you cannot 
stay here, these places are made for white men, and not for 
you." 

The land thief comes and steals our land, and builds a saw- 
mill on it, to saw the logs stolen from the poor Indian's land, 
and we cannot bring the law to drive him off. 

Let your courts protect us in the full enjoyment of our rights 
as they do the white man. 

Give to our nation the right to sue for and reclaim in the 
name of "the Seneca nation of Indians" the lands belonging to 
us, and to maintain actions for all and every injury done to 
them, or their timber thereon, as amply in all respects as it pro- 
vides for the white man, and the protection of his rights and 
property. 

By your laws if a man approach one of your Judges, Sheriff 
or other public officers with a bribe, to induce him for money 
to violate his duty, or betray his trust, he is punished by fine 
or imprisonment. 

Give us and our nation the benefit of such a law to secure 
us, against the intrigue and competition of the white man, in 
his attempts to corrupt and defile our chiefs, or any of our 



1'25 

people. And in tine do and provide for us, by plain and 
wholesome laws such as Ave need and your wisdom may de- 
cree. 

And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c. 

Cattaraugus Council House, January 30, 1845. 

(Signed by fifty-five chiefs.) 

A Committee of the Senate appointed to consider the forego- 
ing petition made the following report, whereupon the Law as 
desired was duly passed. 

REPORT 

Of the Committee on Indian Affairs on the Assembly Bill in 
relation to Seneca Indians. 

Mr. Hard, from the committee on Indian affairs, to which 
was referred the engrossed bill from the Assembly, entitled 
"An act for the protection and improvement of the Seneca In- 
dians, residing on the Cattaraugus and Alleghany reservations, 
in this State :" 

REPORTS: 

That the committee have had the same under consideration, 
and have given to it the care and attention which its import- 
ance seemed to demand and have come to a conclusion favor- 
able to the passage of the bill. 

Past experience has abundantly proved that the native In- 
dian and Anglo-American, cannot, or will not, unite by assimi- 
lation into one social community, obeying the laws and adopt- 
ing the customs arising out of the same civil compact, and of 
consequence it has been deemed necessary for the State Gov- 
ernment ever since its formation, to tolerate and give its legal 
sanction to the establishment of a distinct, and to a certain ex- 
tent, an independent community, in the heart of our territorial 
dominions. 

Recognizing the principle, that no intelligent philanthropic 
mind will now dispute, that the native Indians are absolute 
owners in allodium, of all the lands, until divested of them bv 



126 

their own voluntary act, the State Legislature has guarded, by 
the most severe penal enactments, the rights of the Indian ; 
and hence, in year 1777, in the formation of the first Constitu- 
tion of the State, so important a matter was deemed the protec- 
tion of these honest sons of the forest, from the arts and in- 
trigues of their more successful competitors, that an article was 
inserted therein, prohibiting the purchase of any of their lands 
without the consent of the Legislature. 

About fifty years ago the Seneca nation had a constitution, 
prohibiting the sale of any of their lands without the consent of 
aU the chiefs of that nation; and even with this strong consti- 
tutional check on the power of alienation then lodged with 
their chiefs, the white men through the corrupting and stulti- 
fying influence of intoxicating liquors, found facilities for rob- 
bing them of millions of acres of their lands without rendering 
even a shadow of an equivalent. Following the example how- 
ever of their civilized neighbors, they modified their constitu- 
tion, and adopted the majority rule, which for a time controlled 
their sales, requiring only a majority of the chiefs assenting to 
give validity to sale. This rule continued until the 31st Janu- 
ary, 1845, when the nation or the miserable remnant of the 
ancient Seneca nation, in a council of their chiefs, again modi- 
fied the constitution, wherein they declared the sale or transfer 
of any lands null and void unless it received the assent of two- 
thirds of all the warriors, chiefs and adult male citizens of the 
nation. This constitutional ordinance of the chiefs has been 
duly authenticated and filed with the Secretary of State, a copy 
of which accompanies this report. [See pages 121, 122.] 

The third section of the law under consideration is intended 
to give a legislative sanction or recognition of this modified 
constitution. 

This section, and the eighth section, are the only parts of the 
bill which meet with serious opposition, and that opposition is 
interposed solely by the Ogden Company, (so called,) as will 
appear by the accompanying remonstrance, signed by Joseph 
Fellows, who represents himself as the surviving trustee of the 
company. 



127 

The remonstrants claim to be the rightful owners of the pre- 
emption right of soil of the two aforesaid reservations, and com- 
plain that the bill in question if it becomes a law will interfere 
with this pre-emption right. It is the misfortune of these, that 
although they are the most interested party in this whole mat- 
ter, they are not allowed a participation in any legislation in 
regard to it. The voice of the red man is not heard either in 
the Senate or the forum, and of course can have no direct in- 
fluence in the making or the administering of the laws. They 
are dependent entirely for aid in all their matters upon the in- 
tervention of friends, whose services are gratuitously bestowed. 

Mr. Pierce, one of the Seneca chiefs, an intelligent and sa- 
gacious man, who seems to take a deep interest in the moral 
and intellectual welfare of his people, has attended during the 
session of this Legislature as an agent of that nation, and has 
afforded to the committee much useful information touching 
the subject of this bill. He has consulted some of the ablest 
legal counsel in the State, and has obtained from one, the late 
Secretary of War, a written opinion in regard to the soundness 
of the company's objections to the provisions of the bill, which 
the committee beg leave to adopt as a part of their report, as it 
very fully presents the history of the right and title claimed by 
the Ogden Company, as well as the legal character and extent 
of that claim. 

Opinion of the Hon. John C. Spencer. 

" It is understood that objections are made by Joseph Fel- 
lows, Esq., and others, belonging to what is called the ' Ogden 
Company,' to the third and eighth sections of the bill entitled 
' An act for the protection and improvement of the Seneca In- 
dians, residing on the Cattaraugus and Alleghany reservations, 
in this State." 

The objection to the third section is, that it interferes with 
the vested rights of the Ogden Company, who had the pre- 
emptive right to purchase from the Senecas their reservation. 
By the convention between the State of New York and the 



1:^8 

commonwealth of Massachusetts, made at Hartford on the six- 
teenth day of December, 1788, the State of New York ceded 
to the commonwealth of Massachusetts, " to the use of the said 
commonwealth, their grantees, and the heirs and assigns of 
such grantees forever, the right of pre-emption of the soil irom 
the native Indians, and all other the estate, right, title and 
property which the State of New York had in, and to the 
lands" lying west of the Seneca Lake. By the ninth clause 
of the convention, the commonwealth of Massachusetts was 
authorised to hold treaties and conferences with the native In- 
dians relative to the property or right of soil of the land ceded. 
The tenth clause is as follows: " The commonwealth of Mas- 
sachusetts may grant the right of pre-emption of the whole or 
any part of the said lands and territories, to any person or per- 
sons, who by virtue of such grant shall have good right to ex- 
tinguish by purchase the claims of the native Indians ; pro- 
vided, however, that no purchase from the native Indians, by 
any such grantee, or grantees, shall be valid, unless the same 
shall be made in the presence of, and approved by, a superin- 
tendent to be appointed for such purpose by the common- 
wealth of Massachusetts, and having no interest in such pur- 
chase, and unless such purchase be confirmed by the common- 
wealth of Massachusetts." 

This State always asserted the right, and acknowledged the 
duty of protecting the Indians within its limits, from frauds and 
imposition ; and in the thirty- seventh article of the Constitu- 
tion of 1777, it was provided that no purchase or contracts for 
the sale of lands made with or of Indians within the limits of 
this State, should be binding on the said Indians, or deemed 
valid unless made under the authority and with the consent of 
the Legislature of this State. 

The cession of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the 
stipulation authorising the commonwealth to grant to any per- 
son the right of pre-emption — that is, as expressed in the ces- 
sion, the right to extinguish by purchase the claims of the na- 
tive Indians, are to be regarded as conferring the authority and 



129 

giving the consent of the Legislature, that the grantees of Mas- 
sachusetts might by purchase extinguish the Indian title. 

This consent did not, and could not, from its nature, transfer 
to, or vest in the grantees from Massachusetts, any right or 
interest in the Indian claims ; it was an inchoate executory 
authority to purchase. It merely confined and restricted to 
particular individuals a privilege, which might have been given 
to all the citizens of the State. The nature of this privilege 
must be the same, whether confined to a few or extended to 
all. And it is conceived that those who possess it, have pre- 
cisely the same right to purchase of Indians, which any citizen 
has to purchase of another citizen, and neither more nor less. 
With respect to them, a disabihty imposed by the Constitution, 
is removed, and they stand exactly as if no such prohibition 
had been imposed. They have acquired nothing but that 
which every citizen woald have possessed in the absence of 
any constitutional or legal prohibition. 

If this view be correct, and no reason is furnished to doubt 
it, the Legislature of the State must necessarily possess the 
same authority, to prescribe the manner of purchase, and the 
form of conveyance, in relation to the sale by Indians of their 
interest in lands, as it would possess in relation to sales of real 
estate by other inhabitants of the States — the same authority as 
if no prohibition had ever existed. It could require the bar- 
gain to bo reduced to writing, to be executed in the presence 
of witnesses, and to be sealed by the parties. And if any pe- 
culiar reasons existed for extraordinary precaution, arising from 
the supposed incapacity of any parties, the Legislature might 
require an acknowledgment before a competent officer, made 
apart from persons who might be supposed to exercise an un- 
due influence. And upon the same principle, other guards 
and restrictions to secure fair dealing must not only be within 
the competency of the Legislature, but must often be among its 
highest and most imperative duties. 

With what propriety could any citizen having the undoubted 
right to purchase lands, object to such or similar restrictions 
17 



130 

and guards upon the power to sell by any other citizen ? The 
right of purchase must, like all other social and political rights, 
be subject to the general and supreme authority of the State, to 
prevent frauds and secure justice. And it is not perceived 
how any law passed in good faith for such a purpose, can be 
said to impair the right of purchase, which citizens at large or 
any select few possess. It will not be claimed that either a 
general or special right to purchase is a right to circumvent, — 
to obtain property for trifling or inadequate considerations ; and 
if it be not, it cannot be impaired by legislative provisions in- 
tended and calculated to prevent imposition, and secure the 
full value of what may be purchased. 

Such is the character of the provision in the third section of 
the bill under consideration. The property, interest or claims 
to which it relates are national, — they belong to the Seneca 
nation of Indians collectively. While they are of great value 
to the whole nation, the interest of an individual chief is com- 
paratively small, and may be easily over-balanced by a direct 
pecuniary consideration to himself. His personal and private 
interest may thus be brought into dangerous conflict with his 
public trust and duty, as a chief, — as a father of his nation. 
Surely an exigency is thus presented requiring an extraordi- 
nary guard, and what check or restriction upon improvidence, 
not to say venality of Indian chiefs, can be more just, reasona- 
ble and effectual than that which our own Constitution has 
adopted to prevent the improper disposition of the public pro- 
perty for local or private purposes, by those holding legislative 
trusts in our State ? This remark is made for the purpose of 
showing by the example, that such a provision is in itself rea- 
sonable, and a fair and legitimate exercise of the power to pre- 
vent frauds. 

The third section adopts and sanctions the arrangement made 
by the Seneca nation, among themselves, requiring the assent 
of two-thirds of their chiefs in council assembled to the transfer 
of their national property, of the small remnant left of their 
once mighty possessions. Without a legislative sanction, it is 



131 

liable to be repealed by the same majority which may exist at 
any time in favor of a sale of their reservations. Hence the 
Seneca Indians, being now united on this question, ask of the 
Legislature to give force and effect to what they wish to make a 
fundamental constitutional provision, but which cannot otherwise 
be made such. Regarded as the pupils and wards of the State, 
which has always exercised a paternal care over them, which 
has constantly shielded them by special legislation from the 
consequences of their own imperfections, and the insidious de- 
signs of white men, and which looks upon them as incapable 
of competing with the arts of civilized men, they ask that this 
guard may be thrown around them to insure deliberation and 
unanimity. They complain that recently the assent of some 
chiefs to a disposition of the national property has been pro- 
cured of them individually in private, and not in council, and 
they are anxious to put an end to a practice that exposes them 
to such situations and such hazards, and endangers their do- 
mestic peace. Can any thing be more reasonable and more 
just. Ought it to be objected to by any one wishing to deal 
fairly and honestly with them ? Would a syllable be heard 
against it if the right to purchase of them v^as open to every 
citizen of the State ? 

If then the provisions of this third section are in themselves 
just, if they are a fair exercise of the Legislative power to pre- 
vent frauds and secure justice in bargains between inhabitants 
of this State, and if they are peculiarly appropriate and adapted 
to the condition of an unfortunate race, whom we are bound 
by the most imperative considerations to protect, how can they 
impair any rignt of fair and honest purchase ? 

It is intimated, in the memorial of Mr. Fellows, Ihut tiic 
usual mode of purshasing or extinguishing the Indian title, has 
been by treaty at a council, at which a majority of those pre- 
sent controlled. This is doubted as a historical fact. On the 
face of the contracts made with the Indians under treaties, it 
would appear that they expressed the united sentiment of the 
nation. Hence many of the treaties and contracts arc signed 



132 

by a lew chiefs, and not one-fourth of the whole number. 
They signed as representatives — delegates, expressing the sense 
of their whole nation — and not individually. It is doubted 
whether the Indians have known or been governed by the ma- 
jority rule, and it is behoved that in their deUberations they 
have endeavored to ascertain the general sense of their coun- 
cils, and when ascertained it became the unanimous and united 
sense. And it is believed that this idea of a mere majority is 
of very recent date, not earlier than the year 1838, and that it 
is in itself an innovation. As it conforms to the customs and 
habits of the whites on ordinary occasions, it has been received 
.among them, as a rule for the Indians. The Senecas say that 
it is not a safe rule for them, that it does not afford them suffi- 
cient security against improvidence or venality. And they 
impose upon themselves a rule requiring the assent of two- 
thirds of their chiefs in council. It is not understood that any 
objection is made on the part of the Ogden Company to the 
Senecas furnishing to themselves the conditions, manner and 
form in which they will sell their own property. Jt would 
scarcely be urged by intelligent men, that the right of pur- 
chase is so comprehensive as to destroy all discretion and op- 
tion in the sellers. The objection then is not, for it could not 
be, to the Seneca Indians making a law for themselves in re- 
spect to the subject in which they are a sovereign nation, — 
but it is to that law being made effectual — being made some- 
thing more than waste paper, by the legislative authority of the 
State. But surely the confirmation of a law in itself right and 
just, cannot be otherwise than right and just; it can have no 
other character than its original. 

With respect to the eighth section, it is impossible to per- 
ceive what objection ^of a legal character can be made to it. 
Chiefs are nominated by families to the tribes or other families, 
and if approved by them and by the council of chiefs, they are 
admitted. This is the usual course. But among people not 
very strict in the observance of forms, irregularities will occur, 
and innovation causcB other and greater irregularities. In the 



133 

system of self-government proposed by the bill, it will be im- 
possible to advance a single step without the means of deter- 
mining who constitute the great council of the nation — its 
chiefs ; and unless means are provided for a probable determi- 
nation, it will be made by force and violence, or the whole 
system will be broken up. Mr. Fellows' memorial admits that 
purchases are to be made of the Indians through their cheifs. 
How can the right to purchase be impaired by a legal mode of 
determining who are such chiefs? And what better mode 
can be devised than the one proposed ? So far from obstruct- 
ing or impairing a fair and honest purchase, it would be facili- 
tated by ascertaining Avith certainty the agents authorised to 
make the sale. The very first preliminary in all treaties is an 
exchange of powers, that each party may know they are treat- 
ing with those competent to act. To leave the official charac- 
ter of those claiming to be chiefs, in doubt, — to open the door 
to all sorts of claimants, might promote purposes of fraud, but 
would perplex and defeat honest negotiation." 

The committee fully concur in the views presented by that 
distinguished jurist and constitutional lawyer. And believing 
as they do, that the bill is both constitutional and expedient, 
and in none of its provisions substantially calculated to infringe 
upon any vested rights of the company, and believing too, that 
if it becomes a law, its provisions will efFectually promote the 
civil and intellectual prosperity of that hitherto oppressed and 
defrauded people, they feel constrained to recommend its pas- 
sage into a law.." 

Upon receipt of this report, the Legislature proceeded to pass 
an act, entitled " an act for the protection and improvement of 
the Seneca Indians, residing on the Cattaraugus and Allegany 
Reservations in this State." This act was carefully drawn, and, 
while it provided for the Senecas, a mild municipal govern- 
ment, the powers of which were to be executed by themselves, 
it also embraced two very important objects — the protection of 
their timber, and the total exclusion of spirituous liquors from 
their villages. 



J 34 

At the time this bill was before the Legislature at Albany, 
a delegation of Friends attended to the concern there, and had 
several interviews with the Governor and committees of both 
housess to explain the situation of the Indians, and the grounds 
of their present application, and rendered such other aid and 
advice as circumstances made necessary. 

That body manifested an interest and feeling for the Indians 
within their limits, highly gratifying to the delegation, and 
honorable to the state. Indeed, the uniform justice and com- 
passion of the Commonwealth of New York, toward the Six 
nations, who were located on its territory, presents in retro- 
spect one of the most pleasant scenes on the pages of our histo- 
ry. When the Senate of New York, in the spring of 1843, 
understood that a treaty was to be held at Buffalo, under the 
authority of the General Government, and having relation to 
their lands, — they, without any solicitation from the Indians, 
or Irom Friends, delegated Abraham Dixon, one of their 
number, to attend the Council, held on that occasion. An 
address which he made at that time, gives a fair and deeply 
interesting sketch of the conduct of his state, in relation to the 
Indians. "You know," said he, in an adderss to the Chiefs, 
" that this State has always treated the Indians with justice 
and humanity. We have enacted laws for your protection and 
benefit, — granted you liberal annuities, and paid them punctu- 
ally. We have never taken from the red man his lands, but 
by honorable purchase, and a fair equivalent. The people of 
the state have deeply sympathized with you in your difficulties 
with the Ogden Company, in relation to your lands. The 
Legislature participated in this feeling, and while they had the 
subject under consideration, the last winter, they were rejoiced 
to learn that a door had been opened, by which you might es- 
cape from dangers, which you and others thought, awaited you; 
and they sent me to be present on this occosion, to give you 
such advice and assistance as I could." 

Subsequently, the Legislature of New York has extended 
the ceneral benefits of the school system to the Indians, yet 



136 

remaining within the State, and have appropriated hberal funds 
to erect the necessary school houses, and pay quahfied teach- 
ers to instruct the Indian children. 

In the sixth month, this year, 1845, the General Committee 
on Indian affairs appointed a delegation of men and women 
Friends, to visit the Indians, and to have a conference with 
them in relation to several subjects deeply affecting their 
future welfare. The principal concern of Friends at this 
time, related to the condition of their females. The old Indian 
custom of employing them in the fields was yet continued. It 
was clearly seen that the civilization of the tribe, could never 
be fully perfected under such a system. It was a subject of 
some difficulty, arising from the inveteracy of long-continued 
habits, but it was believed that little further progress could be 
made towards a higher state of society, until this custom should 
be broken, and the women be more confined to the cares and 
employments of domestic life. 

This council was opened at Cattaraugus, on the 15th of the 
7th month, 1845, with a few introductory remarks by a mem- 
ber of the committee ; upon which Daniel Two Guns, a chief 
at the Cattaraugus reservation rose, and on behalf of the Seneca 
nation, expressed gratitude to the Great Spirit for the preserva- 
tion of the committee during their long journey, and the great 
satisfaction it afforded the Senecas once more to meet their 
friends in council. After these preliminary remarks he inform- 
ed the committee that the chiefs were now ready to hear 
whatever we might desire to say to them. 

A member of the committee then addressed the council as 
follows : — 
Brothers ! 

" On considering the situation in Avhich you have been 
placed by the important change that has been adopted in rela- 
tion to the tenure of your land, as well as in regard to your 
social condition and civil rights, your friends have believed that 
it would be proper to have a conference with you, respecting 



136 

some matters which they apprehend deeply concern your future 
happiness and prosperity : they have therefore requested you 
to meet them, at this time, in the present council. 

" Having, after much labor and perseverance, secured to you 
the possession of your remaining land, and with your co-opera- 
tion, succeeded in placing the title in a situation which will put 
it out of the power of any one to deprive you of it, except 
with your own consent; the object originally undertaken by 
the joint committee of the four Yearly Meetings of Friends has 
been accomplished, and we might therefore now dissolve our 
connection, and withdraw from you. You are the undisputed 
owners of the homes that have been restored to you, and have 
been taught how to cultivate your farms ; and such of you as 
have been industrious and prudent, have acquired a practical 
experience of the advantages of relying on this means of sub- 
sistence, in preference to an uncertain dependence upon hunt- 
ing, even were there game within your reach. 

" It was the design of the Great Spirit that men should labor, 
and not pass their lives in idleness ; it is therefore our duty to 
be employed in doing something for our own subsistence, and 
for the benefit of the community in which we live. Even 
among the white people, where any persist in a life of idleness, 
they generally fall into bad health and vicious habits, which in 
the end, mostly bring poverty and disgrace on them and their 
families. The same will happen to you, should you be so 
unwise as to spend your time in sloth and indolence ; — Believe 
us, there is nothing but steady industry and correct moral de- 
portment, that can render your situation a comfortable one, or 
preserve the small remnant now left of the Seneca nation, from 
vitter destruction. 

" Brothers ! We need not remind you that the Senecas 
were once a very numerous and powerful people, and that your 
tribe has produced some very eminent and illustrious men, 
whose names are incorporated into the history of our country, 
and wiU never be forgotten while that history is preserved. 
The confederacy to which you belong, held the country be- 



137 

tween Lake Erie southward, as far as to the tide waters of the 
Susquehanna and Delaware rivers, and eastwardly along the 
shores of the Iroquois to the Horicon Lake. You cannot be 
unacquainted with the causes which have reduced you to your 
present feeble and impoverished condition — these causes may 
easily be enumerated — they may clearly be traced to the idle- 
ness and intemperance of your men ! and if persisted in, they 
will go on rapidly to destroy the remnant yet left of your peo- 
ple, so that in a few years more, the council fire of the Senecas 
would forever be extinguished. 

" Idleness and vice are so closely allied that they cannot be 
separated — or in other words, an idle man is always subject to 
fall into vicious habits, while an industrious employment of our 
time in some useful occupation, improves our health, gives 
vigor and strength to the body, and promotes the growth of 
virtuous principles in the mind. We therefore earnestly repeat 
to you, that if you desire to be prosperous and happy, you 
must root out idleness from amongst you : — a man who will 
not labor in some way for the support of himself, and for his 
family, if he has one, can be of no use, but must be an incum- 
brance on the community in which he lives. 

" We have on several occasions heretofore stated to you, that 
we believed it was necessary a change should take place in the 
apportionment and distribution of labor among you ; we are 
satisfied the time has arrived when this change has become in- 
dispensable to your comfort, and indeed we are convinced that 
circumstanced as you now are, the existence of the Seneca 
nation cannot be maintained, unless the change proposed is 
made. 

" You say you desire to raise yourselves to the condition of 
a civilized, intelligent people ; can you reasonably expect to 
do this, while your wives and daughters continue to be employ- 
ed in the menial labor to which they have so long been sub- 
jected? We tell you plainly it will be impossible, and that 
there is not now in the whole world, nor has there ever been, 
any nation or people, who held their women in a state of servile 



138 

dependence, and imposed upon them the severe drudgeries of 
hard labor, that ever were or ever could be civilized. It is the 
peculiar characteristic of savages, and not of civihzed men, to 
treat their women in this way ; and besides, it is perverting the 
wise order and purposes of Providence, and ought not to be 
tolerated. 

" How can you expect that your wives can rear civilized, 
intelligent children, when they themselves are left without 
education, and are kept in a state of degraded ignorance ? — 
Surely such mothers can only rear ignorant and barbarous 
children ! Do you not know that it is to mothers we are to 
look for the necessary care and instruction, in cultivating the 
seeds of virtue, and every noble principle, in the breasts of 
children ? If then you desire to see your offspring intelligent 
and virtuous, let their mothers, by suitable employments and 
education, be qualified to give them the proper training and in- 
struction to render them so. 

" It is now many years since we first began our efforts to be 
useful to our Indian brethren ; we saw that their numbers were 
daily diminishing under the many hardships and sufferings to 
which they were exposed, and that unless something could be 
done to improve their condition, the whole race would, at no 
distant day, be swept from existence ; and remembering the 
friendship that had subsisted between our fathers when they 
first came to this country, and your fathers, we felt our hearts 
warmed with pity towards you, and believed it to be our duty to 
give you such advice and assistance, as we might be able to 
render, in the hope, that by instructing you in the ways by 
which we obtain a comfortable support, we might, by the 
aid of the Great Spirit, become instrumental in bettering your 
condition, and averting the ruin that seemed to threaten you ; 
it must be acknowledged that in the course of our labors we 
have met with much to discourage us ; Ave are sensible that 
many of the difficulties we have encounterted, have arisen from 
the insecurity of the tenure by which your lands were held — 
this difficulty so far as regards you, is now happily removed — 



139 

you are by the Legislature of New York, acknowledged to be 
the indisputable owners of the land that has been restored to 
you, as long as you may choose to hold it — the same assurance 
has been given to you by the United States and by the State 
of Massachusetts — a clear and well defined regulation has been 
established, by which alone, these lands can hereafter be alien- 
ated, and by which you are protected against fraud — you are, 
by law, recognized as a political body — the courts of law are 
opened to redress your grievancess, hould any occur, and com- 
petent counsel has been provided to see that justice will be 
done you — a wise system of municipal government, adapted to 
your necessities, has been provided for you, and you have now 
only to avail yourselves of these important advantages, and 
judiciously exercise the powers that have been conferred upon 
you — be sober and industrious, change your system as regards 
the employments of your females, and elevate them, by a suit- 
able education and treatment, to the position they ought to oc- 
cupy, and your prosperity will then be placed upon a firm and 
permanent basis. 

" One of the principal objects of our present visit is, to en- 
deavor to impress upon you the importance of these measures, 
and above all, the absolute necessity of your adopting a differ- 
ent course from that you have heretofore pursued, in regard 
to the division of labor among you ; and we tell you plainly, 
that it is our settled opinion, unless you consent to this, all our 
labors to benefit you, will, in the end, fail. Indeed, without 
the change now proposed, our hopes of being able to avert the 
evils which must follow your present course, would be extin- 
guished, and all prospect of our doing you any good would be 
at an end. In that event we would prefer to withdraw from 
you, rather than by remaining near, be obliged to M'itness the 
ruin which we believe would come upon you. 

" But we hope better things for you — we hope you will 
listen to the advice we have given you — that your men will 
now settle themselves permanently at the homes which cannot 
be taken from them, and that they will diligently apply them- 



140 

selves to the cultivation and improvement of their farms — that 
you will withdraw your females from the labors of the field and 
other employments not adapted to the delicacy of their sex — 
that you will give them suitable educations, leave them to be 
occupied in the care and business of their household affairs, 
and place them in a condition to become your prudent advisers 
and useful companions. You will then find them wise coun- 
sellors and true friends. 

"As we have here before told you, our object in uniting our 
efforts was, to secure for you a home that could not, without 
your consent, be taken from you, — that has been done as effec- 
tually as, under all circumstances, could be expected ; this 
being accomplished, and our original purpose effected, we 
might now be justified in withdrawing, and leave you to walk 
alone ; but upon considering your situation, it has appeared to 
us, that you still stand in need of some help, not as regards the 
cultivation of your land, because this you already understand, 
and can readily do, if you are disposed to be industrious ; but 
we believe you still require assistance, in the education of your 
children, and instructing your females in the employments 
which, we believe, they should hereafter be engaged. If you 
approve of these meaures, and it be your wish we should in 
this manner assist you, we are disposed to continue our efforts to 
do so, by continuing the school amongst you, where as many of 
your children as you may be inclined to send, may be taught to 
read and write, and also be instructed in such higher branches of 
learning as circumstances may admit of. In addition to this, we 
propose to continue to receive into the family of the Friends we 
may place to reside among you, as many of your young women 
as can be accommodated, and there instruct them in all the 
branches of female employments, which will be necessary to 
enable them to become good housekeepers, and suitable com- 
panions of intelligent and industrious husbands, and qualify 
them to train up their children in habits and principles which 
will render them respectable, good citizens. 



141 

" We have deemed it proper on this occasion, to open our 
minds freely to you, in order that there may be a clear under- 
standing between us. You cannot doubt that our purpose is to 
do you all the good we can, and it is proper you should be 
plainly informed of our views. It will not be in our power to 
effect any thing for your benefit, without your cordial and zeal- 
ous co-operation — We can do no more than point the way in 
which we think you ought to go, and it will be for you to say, if 
you will walk in it ; or if you will prefer to travel along the down- 
ward path in which you have so long wandered, and which 
has already led you to the brink of ruin, and if persisted in, 
must finally lead to your extinction. As regards ourselves, we 
have, under the influence of a sincere desire for your welfare, 
given you the best advice in our power — we shall now wait to 
receive your answer, and will carry back your words to our 
friends, who have delegated us to hold this conference with 
you." 

This address was carefully interpreted, and was listened to 
by the chiefs with marked attention. After a short conversa- 
tion among themselves, a chief rose, and informed the commit- 
tee that the subjects proposed by Friends would receive a de- 
liberate and careful consideration, and that when prepared, the 
chiefs would return their answer. 

Upon this, the committee withdrew, and left the chiefs in 
earnest deliberation upon the matters that had been proposed 
to them. 

On the following morning, soon after the Council had been 
convened, a deputation waited on the committee, and invited 
them to attend. After some pause, and a short conference 
among the chiefs, a distinguished Sachem rose, and having 
expressed thanks to the Great Spirit, that so many of us had 
been permitted again to meet in council, on the business that 
had brought us from a far country, to see them, he addressed 
the committee as follows : 

"Brothers! We are sensible that the business which 
brought you here is an important business. You have, at your 



142 

homes, considered the situation of our people, atid have con- 
cluded to visit us once more ; and to continue to advise and 
assist us. You have told us that one matter of great impor- 
tance to our people has been settled — that our remaining 
lands, comprising the two whole reservations of Allegany and 
Cattaraugus, have been restored and are secured to us — and 
that, by the kindness and humanity of the New York Legisla- 
ture, we are protected by the strong arm of the law, from 
the depredations and frauds formerly committed on our lands 
and people. 

"Brothers! You say that this important concern being 
settled, you have now come to propose some' change in our 
customs and habits, which you deem essential to our future 
progress, toward a state of civilization. This, we understand, 
is one of the principal objects of your visit at the present time. 
You also desire to see our lands better cultivated and impro- 
ved ; and our children better educated. We say to you, bro- 
thers, that it is our desire the school should be continued, and 
that our children should be instructed as you purpose. We 
believe the education and elevation of our people will go for- 
ward ; but this great work must go on gradually and slowly, 
because it is difficult to change habits of long standing, and to 
alter customs handed down from our ancestors. 

" Brothers ! On looking over our situation, you have 
thought it not beneficial to our nation, that our women should 
be employed in the field. You have advised us to call them 
from out-door employments, and to direct their attention to 
household affairs, and we assure you we will endeavor to pre- 
vail on them to do so. As we have said before, we will call 
our women from the field. But their habits have been long 
fixed, and it may be some time before they will consent ; yet 
in this, we trust we shall finally succeed. 

" Brothers ! We believe it is true that the Great Spirit 
has given to females a feebler frame, than he has given to the 
men, and that they should not be employed in such things as 
they are not able to perform. We believe also that if the 



143 

changes proposed by you should be effected as you desire, 
we should live happier and be more prosperous as a nation. 

"Brothers ! We are thankful that our friends have not 
been discouraged in their endeavors to promote our welfare. 

"Brothers ! I was appointed by the chiefs of the nation, 
to speak these words to you at this time. I have endeavored 
to fulfil my duty. Nevertheless, I may not have fully replied 
to all the subjects to which our attention has been called^ 
but other chiefs may make all necessary additions." 

After which a Friend made the following speech; 

" Brothers ! It is now about fifty years since the Society 
of Friends first undertook to aid the Seneca nation in their ef- 
forts to improve the habits and manners of their people. They 
embarked in this concern under a full persuasion that it was 
the will of the Great Spirit, they should assist their red breth- 
ren in a work so necessary to their future welfare. And as 
the Great Spirit is no respecter of persons, so Friends believe 
that those, whom he sends to do his work, should likewise be 
no respecters of persons. You have told us that there are 
parties among you, who think differently on several subjects 
which you have mentioned. With these differences, you have 
already been told, we cannot intermeddle. Our concern is 
for the happiness and welfare of the whole Seneca nation. As 
individuals, you are all equally the objects of our love and re- 
gard. To every Indian, of whatever party, we are friends, 
and cordially desire their present and future prosperity. We 
are all children of one great parent. As our Heavenly Father 
loves all his children alike, and is good to all, so we desire to 
feel no distinction among our Indian brethren, but to love all 
alike, and as far as we can, do Ihem all good. 

" Brothers ! You have expressed a wish that Friends 
may not be discouraged because of the slowness of your pro- 
gress in the path of improvement. — We assure you, brothers, 
we are not discouraged. We are not so unreasonable as to ex- 
pect that habits of long standing, and customs harided down to 
you from your remotest ancestors, can be suddenly changed. 



144 

Much time and steady perseverance, under the most favorable 
circumstances, are always necessary to effect such changes. 
We see no cause for discouragement, either to you or us. On 
the contrary, we think we perceive abundant reason for mutual 
encouragement, in the evidences of improvement largely afford- 
ed by a view of your settlements. When we passed through 
your Reservation at Cattaraugus yesterday, we observed many 
good new houses, excellent barns, strong fences, thriving or- 
chards, and fine fruitful fields. These things made our hearts 
glad, and we felt ourselves greatly encouraged on your account. 
Since the first visit the committee paid you, about seven years 
ago, we see a great change for the better in all the departments 
of husbandry, as well as in your dress and mode of living ; 
and we desire that you may persevere in the good way, and 
never be weary of well doing.'' 

In addition to these appeals to the chiefs, one of the women 
Friends, a member of the committee, prepared an address to 
the female part of the nation, which was afterwards printed 
and circulated throughout the families at Cattaraugus and Alle- 
gany, as follows : 

" Sisters ! The chiefs of your nation have told us that 
they are disposed to promote the improvement of your people, 
by allowing you to withdraw from the labors of the field, in 
order that you may attend more closely to the duties properly 
belonging to your sex. 

" Sisters ! We earnestly and affectionately desire that 
you may industriously and faithfully fulfil these duties. To 
some of them we ask your particular attention. We believe 
cleanliness, both in our houses and persons, to be necessary 
to our health. When this is properly attended to, it makes 
our homes comfortable and greatly promotes the happiness of 
our families. When the women learn to sew and spin and 
knit, they become qualified to make useful garments, and also 
to mend them when necessary — so that all the members of the 
family may have comfortable and decent clothing. To have 
a place for every thing in use about your houses, and to keep 



145 

every thing in ils proper place, save? a great deal of trouble^ 
and makes iiousehold duties easy and pleasant. When the 
men bring home food for the family, it is the duty of the 
women lo have it properly prepared for the table, and see that 
it is not wasted ; by proper attention to this duty, our men are 
saved from much unnecessary labor, and they are encouraged 
to provide well for our comfort, and for the comfort of our 
children. It is also the duty of the women to teach their chil- 
dren how they should behave themselves, and to instruct them 
how to walk in the right way, — lo see that they go regularly to 
school, and that they are cleanly dressed and properly fitted 
out to go there. When children are young, they are much 
under the care of their mothers — they look to them for exam- 
ple, and it requires great patience and prudence to train them, 
so as to make them good men and women when they grow up. 
We know that these are very important duties — but we believe 
that when, in sincerity of heart, you look to the great Spirit, 
he will enable you to pertorm them, so that you may look for- 
ward in hope, that your children may be a blessing to ydU in 
your old age, and become qualified to carry on the great work 
of improvement, which has been so happily begun in your na- 
tion. And thus, when the close of life draws nigh, you may 
have peace, and confidently hope that death will remove you 
'to a better world, where the spirits of good men and women 
will be happy forever. That such may be your experience, is 
our sincere, and earnest prayer for you all — farewell." 

In addition to this parting advice, the following address, 
which had been prepared, was also 'printed and distributed 
among the chiefs and people of the Seneca nation. 
"Friends and Brothers: 

" The Seneca nation being now secure in the possession and 
occupancy of their lands, and being about to assume their sta- 
tion as a civilized community, with a regular organized govern- 
ment, it is believed that a change should at once take place, 
in the system heretofore pursued amongst them, relative to the 
position and emplovments of their females. Under these cir- 
19 



146 

cumstances it may be useful to consider, what are the proper 
duties of women, in order that we may judge if the practices 
and habits of the Senecas, are calculated to fit their women for 
the discharge of these duties. 

" In the first place, to women, in every well regulated socie- 
ty, should be committed the management of their families, and 
the business connected with their household concerns, and 
they should be qualified to exercise a salutary influence within 
their appropriate sphere. 

" Secondly, as mothers, they are responsible for the nursing 
and rearing of their children, and for the proper sustenance of 
them in early life. They are also responsible for the habits of 
their children, including cleanliness and general propriety of 
behaviour. A sensible judicious mother, can greatly control 
her children in these matters ; she can make them modest or 
impertinent — ingenuous or deceitful — fearful or intrepid. The 
germ of all these traits of character exists in childhood, and a 
mother can repress or strengthen them. 

" Thirdly, a mother is responsible for the principles her chil- 
dren may entertain in early life, and it is for her to say, whe- 
ther they shall be imbued with sentiments of honesty, industry 
and morality, or with those of a contrary character, — fraud, 
idleness, and dishonesty. She is, to a very considerable extent, 
responsible for the temper and disposition of her children. - 
Constitutionally they may be irritable or revengeful, but she 
may correct or repress these passions, and in their place instil 
better feelings. 

" Lastly and above all, she is responsible for the religious 
education of her children. The beginning of wisdom is a rev- 
erence for our Creator, and obedience to his requirings ; and 
this, it is within the power of every good mother to inculcate 
and cherish in the breasts of her children ; at the same time it 
is by far the most important duty she owes them, and their 
usefulness and character throughout life, may depend upon 
her correct and faithful discharge of it. 

" If these be the appropriate duties and obligations of a mo- 



147 

ther, will it not be vain to expect the Indian women can be 
qualified for that station, or that they will be in a condition to 
give a proper education to their children, or train them up in 
habits and principles that will render them intelligent and good 
citizens, whilst they themselves are left in ignorance, and 
while, instead of devoting their time and attention to the dis- 
charge of these high moral duties, thay are held in a state of 
servile degradation, and compelled to perform nearly all the 
menial drudgeries of life ! 

'• Women are created by Providence equal to men in every 
thing, except mere physical strength ; — generally they have 
much more discretion, and certainly are far more virtuous. 
They were designed to exercise a conservative influence in 
society, and should be placed in a position which would enable 
them to fulfil this most important office ; for history confirms 
the deeply interesting fact, that no people ever yet were ele- 
vated to the rank of civilization, while theirTemales were held 
in a servile condition, and we are also admonished by expe- 
rience, that no community can be virtuous and happy, which 
is not chastened by the controlling example of female delicacy 
and refinement. 

" These views are submitted to the consideration of the Se- 
necas, in the hope that they will receive their serious atten- 
tion, and lead to the adoption of an improved and proper divi- 
sion of the employments, both of the men and women, of their 
nation, and especially to the extension of more care towards 
the suitable education of their females, and the consequent 
elevation of the Seneca women to their appropriate station and 
dignity, as the wives and rational companions of intelligent and 
educated husbands. 

'• In our communications with you, we have not felt it to be 
our duty, to call your attention to any particular forms or ob- 
servances in relation to your religious obligations. We believe 
that " God is a spirit," and true worship to him can only be 
performed " in spirit and in truth.'' We also believe, that 
however diversified the human family may be, in regajd to thf^ 



148 

circumstances in which they may be placed, all stand equally 
before their Creator, as objects of his care and paternal regard. 
In his great mercy, he visits us with remorse and sadness, 
when we have wilfully done that which we knew to be wrong, 
and which, if persisted in, might lead to our destruction; and 
it is he who fills our hearts with peace and consolation, when 
we do that which we believe to be right. His goodness is not 
limited to any people or place, nor is that adoration which is 
due to him, confined within temples built with human hands, 
or restricted to any particular iorm ; he is every where pre- 
sent, and in every place, the incense of a pious devoted heart, 
may accebtably be offered to him. 

" The plants of the earth are not more directly under the 
influences of the natural light and warmth by which they are 
nourished, than is the immortal soul or spirit of man, under the 
immediate care and sustaining support of the Divine presence, 
which is always near and round about us ; for it is in him we 
live, and move, and have our existence. Deeply impressed 
with the certainty of these truths, and fully believing he will 
never fail to lead in the paths of safety and peace, those who 
sincerely look to him for instruction, and faithfully follow his 
counsel, we recommend you, with ourselves, carefully to 
attend to his manifestations of light and truth upon our minds, 
which will never deceive nor mislead, but if obeyed, will 
wisely conduct us through the dangers of this life, and finally 
will prepare us for a happy admission into the realms of eter- 
nal rest. 

" You will perceive that in recommending you to withdraw 
your women from the labors of the field and other occupations 
not suitable for them, it is no part of our purpose that they 
should lall into idleness, or be exempted from such useful em- 
ployments as are adapted to their condition and station in 
life ; on the contrary, we believe it is as much the duty of 
women as it is of men, to be industriously engaged in the ap- 
propriate business connected with their household affairs. 
These duties they will find clearl}^ explained and defined in 



149 

the communication addressed particularly to them, by our 
women Friends, who attended the late Council at Catta- 
raugus, and who, while among you, visited some of your 
houses, where they had an opportunity of seeing the pre- 
sent management and arrangements of your domestic affairs, 
and became strongly impressed with the absolute necessity 
of your adopting the change they have so affectionately and 
urgently recommended. Let me then, as a friend and brother, 
who feels deeply interested for your welfare, again ask your 
attention to the excellent advice contained in that address, 
and earnestly recommend that, as far as in your power, you 
conform to it. 

" As an adopted son of the Seneca nation — indentified with 
you in every thing that concerns your prosperity and happiness, 
I cannot but be grieved to see, that there is so much dissension 
and party spirit among you, as seriously to interfere with the 
judicious management of your national and municipal affairs. 
This is truly to be deplored and causes me serious and painful 
apprehensions. I most earnestly recommend you to lay this 
matter to heart, and pause before it brings irremediable evils 
upon you. I entreat you, without loss of time, by mutual con- 
cessions and forbearance, to endeavor to restore peace and har- 
mony among yourselves. Remember your enemies will not 
fail to take advantage of these dissensions ; you are still weak 
and surrounded by many dangers, and the united discretion 
and prudence of all your wise and good men will be needed to 
meet and overcome the many difficulties that yet lay in your 
way. 

" I have not been informed of the circumstances or causes that 
have led to these dissensions. II they relate to the manage- 
ment of your business affairs, they should, by mutual conces- 
sions, be at once removed. If they arise from mere difference 
of opinion, regarding your moral or religious obligations, they 
are still more to be lamented. We are all the children of one 
parent, and are all equally the objects of his care and protec- 
tion. It is his purpose that we should love and do good to 



150 

each other, as he loves and extends his goodness to all of us. 
There are none of us who can justly claim a power to prescribe 
to our neighbor, what shall be his opinion or views on any ab- 
stract subject, any more than we can admit he has the power 
to control our opinion. 

" Practical oroodness does not necessarily consist in any code 
of opinions whatever ; as proof of this, do we not find bad men 
among the professors of all opinions, however sound and un- 
exceptionable these opinions may be ? On the contrary, good- 
ness consists in the faithful observance of all our religious, so- 
cial and moral duties. We are plainly told, that it consists in 
our acting justly towards all men, that is, in doing to them as 
we would desire they should do unto us ; secondly, in being 
merciful and kind to each other, and to all parts of the sensitive 
creation; and thirdly, in our walking humbly, in submission 
and faithful obedience to the Divine will, as manifested ix our 
OWN MINDS to us. Do wc not know that we can discharge all 
these duties, without unkindly interfering with the opinions, 
honestly perhaps entertained by others ? Let me then, my friends, 
as your brother, and as a member of the Seneca nation, earnestly 
entreat you to cease from all strife and contention, be the same 
on whatever subject it may — Cherish feelings of love and kind- 
ness towards each other — leave every one free to enjoy an un- 
restricted liberty of conscience, while he does not disturb the 
public peace, nor interfere with the free exercise of the same 
right by others ; and remember I tell you, whoever may give 
you any advice, calculated to interrupt the relations of harmony 
and peace, or endeavor to introduce opinions or views among 
you, which tend to produce discord, is not your friend, 

" Commending you to the protection of the Great Spirit, and 
invoking for you his paternal care and regard, I am your 
friend and brother." 

The change, as will here have been seen, that has taken 
place in the government of the Seneca nation, sanctioned by 
the law of the New York Legislature, and recognised by the 



151 

Government of the United States, and the States of Mas- 
sachusetts and New York, is, we think calculated to pro- 
duce the happiest effects. The evils to which the Sene- 
cas had been subjected, for want of some form of gov- 
ernment, better suited to their advanced state of civilization, 
had been severely felt. For want of written records of the 
acts and decisions of the national councils, nothing could be 
sufficiently attested; not even in cases of the deepest import- 
ance to the nation. In our attempts to set aside the treaty, by 
which they were defrauded, to the loss of their four reserva- 
tions, we found it impossible to prove beyond a cavil, who were 
really and truly their chiefs, and consequently it was difficult 
to defend them, against the false allegations of those who were 
interested in driving them away. That law, so benevolently 
granted by the State, is not only valuable as an efficient shield 
of defence from the depredations and injuries of unprincipled 
white men, but by prescribing and guaranteeing to the Indians 
a simple, but efficient form of government, adapted to their 
present capacity, it must become a powerful agent in promoting 
their civilization. By it they will necessarily be introduced 
into the exercise of their intellectual powers, in the Legislative, 
Executive, and Judiciary departments of government. Thus 
they can hardly fail to acquire mental disciphne, habits of 
thinking, and of application, without which no people can attain 
a state of perfect civilization. It is very evident to those who 
have, within the last seven years, been called upon to aid the 
Indians in their difficulties, that far the greater part of their 
troubles are attributable to mental weakness, the consequence 
of indolence or inaction. Civilization is a forced state. It is 
seen in its fairest form, only in those situations, where the 
wants of the people are numerous and pressing, and where at 
the same time those wants may all be amply supplied by fore- 
thought, application, and industry. 

The possibility of Indian civilization in their unmixed state, 
is a question not yet settled even among their friends ; and, is 
sincerely doubted by a large and intelligent portion of the com- 



152 

munity. The policy of amalgamating the white and red races, 
is beginning to be reprobated, under the persuation that the re-^ 
mote posterity, descended from such a mixture, is essentially 
deteriorated. It is none of our business however, to combat 
these opinions, nor indeed have we any concern with them. 
It is, to the real philanthropist, a sufficient motive to action, 
that he finds his fellow man in distress. The good Samaritan 
is his prototype, — every country is his country, and every man 
his brother. 

But whatever may be our theories on this subject of Indian 
civilization, we think it must be evident that the present posi^ 
tion of the Seneca Indians at Cattaraugus and Alleghany, is 
extremely favorable for the attainment of that object. They 
can no longer live by the chase. It is not now with them as 
it was with the Indians on the Delaware, when William Penn 
said, " their pleasures feed them, — hunting, fishing, and fowl- 
ino*." Surrounded by the white settlements, and placed in the 
vicinity of cities and towns, they are obliged to apply to agri- 
culture, and other modes of labor, for the means of subsistence. 
They now are building good houses, planting orchards, raising 
stock. They have horses and carriages. — Artificial wants, the 
very pillars of civiUzation, are increasing upon them. These 
require exertion, — call into action their mental faculties, force 
them to provide for coming exigencies — gradually tame down 
the wild nature in them, and prepare them for that subdued, 
but improved state, in which alone is to be found the highest 
point of intellectual cultivation, as well as the highest enjoy- 
ment intended for man in this probationary world. 

If this experiment fails, we may with melancholy certainly 
look forward to the period, and that period not remote, when 
this interesting branch of the human family, shall be swept into 
oblivion, when the fine sounding names of our lofty mountains, 
our noble rivers, our splendid cataracts, our great inland seas, 
and our silver lakes, will be the sole memorials of a race, that, 
only two or three centuries ago, covered the face of this vast 
continent. 



153 

On the other hand it" this experiment should succeed, it will 
open " a door of hope" for the preservation, or if we may use 
the terms, physical salvation of that apparently doomed race. 
It may encourage the philanthropist to stretch forth his hand 
for the protection of the yet remaining tribes beyond the Mis- 
sissippi; and the child may be already born, w^ho will live to 
behold that vast wilderness, thickly dotted over with Indian 
communities, — with towns, and villages, and farms, and manu- 
facturing hamlets. They may live to see the hoe and the 
spade, taking the place of the Bow and the Tomahawk, — the 
lion and the lamb feeding together, — the sword beaten into a 
plough-share, and the spear into a pruning hook. 

But it is time now to return from this digression. The ap- 
parent unanimity of the Indians in relation to the form of gov- 
ernment so lately adopted by the nation, was of short duration. 
Human nature is the same every where. The minds of men 
differ from each other less than their outward circumstances. 
The Indian loves power as well as the white man, though in 
general he uses it with more justice and moderation. Their 
new Constitution created new Offices, and conferred new pow- 
ers. Offices create distinctions. The office of CHIEF under 
the old regime, was little more than the distinction of seniority. 
It was much more a mark of respect, than a post oi power. No 
authority of a coercive nature was attached to it. If it had any 
power at all, it was the power of injiaence. If Red Jacket 
himself had more authority than any other man in the nation, 
it was that which was voluntarily conceded to him on account 
of his talents, — his wisdom and devotion to the interests of his 
people. But now, under the new Constitution, some chiefs 
must necessarily be distinguished from other chiefs. All could 
not be presidents of councils; — all could not be treasurers, and 
magistrates, — and marshalls, and very soon after their first elec- 
tion under the new government, jealousies, and divisions, and 
animosities appeared among them, which soon grew to so for- 
midable a height, as to threaten the existence of the constitu- 
tion which they had almost unanimously desired, and which 
^0 



154 

had been granted to them, by the New York Legislature, at 
their own earnest recjuest. At Cattaraugus the opposition had 
assumed the appearance of an organized confederacy, with 
several distinguished chiefs at its head. The harmony ol the 
nation was interrupted ; instead of order there was confusion. 
At length the difficulties and embarrassment which ensued, in- 
duced them to apply to Friends for their assistance. 

Another subject at the present time greatly disturbed the na- 
tion. A certain Dr. Hogeboom, desirous of handling some of 
the public money, had been actively engaged in trying to get 
up a company of Indians, who might be willing to emigrate to 
the lands west of the Mississippi. At length he succeeded so 
far to as procure the names of a number of idle vagrants, of dif- 
ferent tribes, together with some of the old emigration party, and 
with some others, made such representations to the Indian De- 
partment, at Washington, as induced the Government to appro- 
priate the sum of ten thousand dollars for their removal. This 
fact coming to the knowledge of the chiefs gave them great un- 
easiness. On appUcation to Stephen Osborne, the United States 
Agent residing near the Seneca nation, he informed them that 
the subject of emigration must be forever abandoned, as the Exe- 
cutive Government of the United States, were perfectly satis- 
fied that no emigration party to any great extent, could be or- 
ganized. 

These contradictory representations greatly perplexed the 
Indians, and in order to have the question settled, they sent the 
following Memorial to Washington, addressed to the President 
of the United States. 

To the President of the United States. 

The undersigned chiefs and head men of the Seneca nation 
of Indians residing in the State of New York, would respect- 
fully represent to your Excellency, that they have been in- 
formed, that a few days since delegates of the tribe above men- 
tioned have been deputed to Pekin at the residence of one 



155 

Doctor Hogeboom, who we understood had been appointed by 
the executive of the government of the United States during 
the year 1845, as a removing agent to accompany such of our 
people, as were anxious to remove to the country west of the 
Mississippi river; and that the said Dr. Hogeboom then and 
there stated to the delegates, that the government of the United 
States intend to remove such as were willing to go, in the 
spring of the present year ; and that the said Dr, Hogeboom 
further stated, that he had authority, power and instructions, to 
remove from two or three individuals to five hundred souls. 
That the said Dr. Hogeboom further stated to the said delega- 
tion, that he had the funds of the government in his hands, 
and that he was merely waiting for the opening of the naviga- 
tion of the Lakes : — that being accomplised, a boat would be 
chartered immediately, to convey the emigrants. 

The undersigned further represent, that the said delegates 
believe the statement of Dr. Hogeboom, while on the other 
hand, they are told by the United States Indian agent, Stephen 
Osborn of the City of Buffalo, that the subject of emigration to 
the country west of the Mississippi must now forever be aban- 
doned, and that the executive government of the United States, 
were perfectly satisfied that no emigration party can now be 
organised. 

The undersigned feeling deep and anxious solicitude for 
the welfare of our people, that on account of these contradic- 
tory statements, much loss and injury will be sustained by such 
of our people who are willing to be duped. As the seed time 
is drawing nigh, and if these people should be induced to- 
neglect this important duty, by the statements of Dr. Hoge- 
boom, we predict that they will reap much suffering, and many 
of them will be reduced to poverty and starvation. We desire 
to avert such a calamity. We therefore respectfully request 
your excellency, to send special messages, or call a special 
convention of the tribe interested in this matter, or any other 
way your Excellency may think proper, in order that our 



156 

people may become undeceived and settled. And your peti- 
tioners will ever pray, &c. 
Signed, 

JOHN KENNEDY, Senr. 
and eighteen other chiefs. 
Witness, PETER WILSON. 

In consequence of this appeal, the Secretary of War directed 
the Indian Agent to call a council of the whole nation, to meet 
at Cattaraugus on the 2d of the Sixth month, 1846. A. H. 
Tracy and G. W. Clinton, citizens of Buffalo, possessing the 
confidence, both of the public and the Indians, were appointed 
to represent the Government at the proposed council, with in- 
structions to inquire fully into the subject, and to report the 
facts to the Department. The Joint Committees of the four 
Yearly Meetings were respectfully invited to be present on 
that occasion. 

On the 3d of the sixth month, the Council was duly organ- 
ized. — The Indians were largely in attendance, and chiefs from 
all the Reservations were there. On the part of the United 
States, there were present G. W. Clinton, Commissioner, and 
Stephen Osborne, the Agent of the Government, with Judge, 
Tho. C. Love, one of the appraisers of their improvements, 
under the treaty of 1842, and the delegation from the Society 
of Friends. 

When the Council was duly organized, the United States 
Agent opened and explained the objects of the meeting. He 
stated that the President directed the calling of this Council, 
in order that an opportunity may be given them, fairly to ex- 
press their views in relation to emigration into the country 
west of the Mississippi river. He then introduced the Com- 
missioner of the United States, who had come there to learn 
from the chiefs themselves, their wishes in regard to that mat- 
ter, which has latterly been the cause of so much uneasiness 
to them. After opening that concern, he mentioned there was 



157 

present a deputation of men and women Friends, who, at a 
suitable time, would explain the object of their visit. 

Governor Blacksnake, the head sachem of the nation, then 
in the ninety-sixth year of his age, now rose and addressed 
the Council as follows : 

"Brothers ! The Council being now opened by the agent, 
I wish to sav a k\v words before we proceed further in the 
business. We are informed that there is present a commis- 
sioner of the United States, who has been appointed to ascer- 
tain our wishes in regard to emigrating to the west. I per- 
ceive also we have with us a committee of our friends, the 
Quakers, who have come a great distance to meet and confer 
with us. It is by the merciful providence of the Great Spirit 
that they have been preserved through their long journey, and 
I now, in behalf of the Seneca nation, express our thankfulness 
for their safe arrival. We hope that while they are with us 
they will be preserved, and that when they return, they may 
be safely conducted to their homes, by the same good hand 
that brought them here. 

"My Brother Chiefs ! I now wish to say a few words 
to you. I hope that whatever the officers of the Government, 
and our friends, now here, may say to us, will be listened to 
with attention, and deliberately considered ; — that in all your 
deliberations you keep calm, and be prepared to decide with 
judgment. I hope your decisions may be wise, and that all 
the dissensions among you may be reconciled and settled, and 
that, hereafter, all party contentions may be buried. If there 
be any who wish to emigrate, let them be permitted to do so ; 
but my advice to you all is, that you remain, and enjoy the 
comforts and advantages that are secured to yon here. By 
emigrating you will be exposed to many hardships and dan- 
gers. Nevertheless, I repeat that I desire to leave every one 
to decide for himself." 

George W. Clinton, the Commissioner of the United States, 
now addressed them in a lucid and impressive manner. He 
noticed the receptiou of tlieir Memorial by the Government — 



158 

told them that on their own application, the present Council 
had been called, that they might make known to the Presi- 
dent their real sentiments in relation to a removal to the west. 
He stated that the Government had no desire to influence 
their decision on tliis point, but left them entirely at liberty 
to exercise their own free will in relaiion to it. If they wish- 
ed to remove, they would be assisted to do so, and their an- 
nuities hereafter would be paid as punctually to them in the 
west, as they had always been at their present residence. On 
the other hand, if they wished to remain at their present 
homes, they were at full liberty to do so, and should there be 
protected in all their rights. 

The Commissioner further observed, that it was reported a 
considerable number of Indians had lately removed from the 
State of New York westward, and he wished to be informed 
by the chiefs then present, what number had gone, and from 
what tribes and Reservations they had emigrated. 

The Chiefs, after some consultation among themselves, re- 
plied that they were not now prepared to answer these ques- 
tions. They said it was true some Indians had lately gone 
west, but they were not prepared to state with certainty either 
their number, or the places from whence they had gone. They 
would however inquire, and when prepared would give the 
desired information. 

The Council then adjourned until the following day. 

On the 4th of the month the Council being again convened, 
Jacob Blacksnake, a delegate from the Allegany Reservation, 
rose and said, he wished to express his thanks to the Great 
Spirit, that he had permitted them at this time to meet their 
brothers and sisters now present, who had come so great a dis- 
tance to see them. He then stated, on behalf of the Allegany 
Reservation, that their chiefs unanimously wish to remain and 
retain their present homes ; — they believed it to be their inte- 
rest to do so, and have no desire to remove. One lad, how- 
ever, had put his name to an emigration paper, but declared 
he never intended to emigrate. 



159 

Nathaniel T. Strong officially reported that four men, but not 
one woman, had emigrated from the Cattaraugus Reservation. 
Of these, one was a chief, the others were warriors, and that 
they knew of no others who desired to remove. 

Job Pierce, on behalf of the Buffalo Reserviiton, reported 
fifty-eight emigrants. Of these, six were chiefs. 

John Blacksmith reported, on behalf of the Tonawanda Re- 
servation, that none of their people had emigrated ; that they 
unanimously determined to remain where they are, and that 
he now understood the United States Commissioner to say, that 
they will be permitted to do so. 

The Commissioner then said, that it was important there 
should be no misunderstanding of what he did say. " My 
business here is simply to ascertain how many Senecas wish 
to remove west of tlie Missi-sippi, and has no reference to the 
removal of the Tonawandas under the treaties. The question 
now pending between them and the Ogden Company, must 
be settled elsewhere." 

Peter Wilson, for the Cayugas, reported, that forty-one of 
that tribe had left New York, for the West ; of whom, it was 
understood, three had returned. " That tribe has been broken 
up, has become disorganised and are scattered into different 
parts of the Slate. Their chiefs iiave concluded to leave them 
to decide the question of emigration for themselves." 

George Button, on behalf of the Onondagas, stated that eight 
individuals of that tribe had gone west, two of whom were 
chiefs. None of the remainder wished to emigrate. 

Nathaniel T. Strong said he had heard that three other In- 
dians, not before reported, had gone from Cattaraugus ; they 
were strangers, lately arrived there, whose former residence 
was not known. 

Israel Jamieson then addressed the Council as follows : 

"Brothers! The question relative (o emigration being 
disposed of, I will explain the manner in which this removal 
of the Indians to the west has been effected. 1 believt; it was 
irregularly conducted. Indeed J may say, of this I am con- 



160 

vinced. The agent who came to execute it, was duly notifi- 
ed, that the government had called the present Council for the 
consideration and investigation of this matter. As soon as it 
was known that this had been determined on. great efforts 
were made to hurry off the emigrants, and induce them to 
leave before the Council would meet. I am satisfied that 
many were decoyed away by various unfair contrivances, and 
gro5s misrepresentations on the part of the emigrating agent 
and his emisaries, I myself remonstrated against these pro- 
ceedings, and asked if it could be proper to inveigle and de- 
ceive the Indians in this manner.'' In reply, I was desired to 
be silent, to which I rejoined, that many of them who they 
had decoyed on board the boat were then drunk, and in a state 
of unconscious insensibilty ! — these remonstrances availed no- 
thing, and the whole were hurried away. If any showed an 
unwillingness to go, they were told they might return if they 
choose, should they not like the place when they got there.'' 

The subject of emigration was closed by a few remarks from 
the United States Commissioner. He stated that from what 
had appeared here, it was manifest there was really at this time, 
no emigration party, and that he should so report to the 
government. 

After the disposal of the emigration question, the propriety 
of sustaining and carrying into effect the Law of the New York 
Legislature, providing a municipal government for the Seneca 
Indians, residing on the Cattaraugus and Alleghany reserva- 
tions, was considered and warmly discussed. Those who were 
in favor of its adoption, had, at the time appointed by the Law 
met, formally accepted it, and elected all the officers required 
by its provisions. Their action was reprobated by the opposing 
party, which was formidable from its numbers, and was headed 
by some influential chiefs. After a warm debate neither party 
seemed disposed to yield to the other. At length an appeal 
was made to the counsellor who had been appointed by the 
Government of the State of New York, to see that the humane 
provisions of this Act were fully extended to the Senecas. He 



161 

was requested to give his opinion, whether the law had been 
legally adopted by the Seneca nation, and whether the otficers 
that had been elected, were legally authorised to execute the 
powers conferred by the Act. 

In reply, he explicitly informed the chiefs that the law had 
been legally adopted by the nation, and that the officers who 
now held their stations under it, were duly and constitutionally 
elected, and had a right to execute it ; and further, that any 
resistance to them in the lawful execution of it, would be 
criminal. 

Judge Love, whose friendship for the Indians, had been man- 
ifested by many kind offices of great importance to them, now 
addressed the council in an impressive manner. He explained 
the objects of the Legislature in passing the law, — the advan- 
tages that would result from it, if wisely and prudently admin- 
istered, — the effectual protection it gave them in their persons 
and property ; the good it had already done them, by excluding 
spirituous liquors from their villages ; and concluded, by warn- 
ing them, in a very epiphatic manner, of the fatal consequences 
that must follow, should they, under the influence of indivi- 
duals, interested in destroying them, be induced to reject it. 

The effect of these explanations, it was hoped would be seen 
in a quiet acquiescence in the law ; and although this was not 
the immediate consequence, yet since that time through the 
salutary influence of reflection, and the adoption of wiser coun- 
sels, they have been drawn into more unanimity of opinion, 
and are now beginning to reap the benefits of unity of action. 

The primary objects of calling the council, having been at- 
tended to, the United States Agent stated to the chiefs, that the 
delegation of Friends, who had been with them during the 
present session, wejre prepared to open their business, and ex- 
plain the object of their visit. 

One of the chiefs then rose, and said the council was ready 
to listen to any communication their friends might have to 
make to them, upon which a member of the committee ad- 
dressed the council, as follows : 
21 



162 

"My Brothers and Sisters ! I feel thankful to the Great 
Spirit, that he has this day permitted me to meet you in coun- 
cil, and afforded us an opportunity of opening our minds freely 
to each other, on subjects interesting to us all, and which very 
especially concern your present and future welfare. In the 
remarks I am about to make, I am aware of the relation in 
which you have placed me, as an adopted son of the Seneca 
nation ; and I can assure you, that I feel myself identified 
with you and deeply solicitous for the prosperity and happiness 
of you all. 

" Brothers and Sisters ! The Friends you now see 
here with me, represent the joint committee of the four Yearly 
Meetings, who, for some years past, have extended to you, ad- 
vice and assistance, in recovering your lands, and securing to 
you and your children the peaceable possession of them. By 
your co-operation and assistance, this important object has been 
attained, and our gratitude is due to the Great Spirit, that 
through his overruling goodness, you are in the quiet posses- 
sion and enjoyment of comfortable homes, that cannot be taken 
from you, without your own consent, or by some indiscreet act 
on your part. You are the admitted owners of a rich and fruit- 
ful soil, sufficiently productive, with due diligence, to afford 
you ample supplies of all the necessaries of life, requisite for 
the subsistence of your famiUes. 

Brothers ! Your friends have observed with satisfaction, 
your improvement in agriculture, as well as in your domestic 
arrangements, and feel great confidence that by perseverance 
in the course of sobriety and industry you have adopted, and 
living in harmony and peace among yourselves, you will be- 
come a prosperous and happy people. But my brothers, we 
feel it to be our solemn duty to express to you our conviction, 
that unless you can be prevailed upon to do this, and will 
cease from the bickerings which have lately agitated and dis- 
tracted your public councils, all the.se fair prospects will disap- 
pear. You will lose the confidence and respect of your friends 
and neighbors — disorder and confusion will enter into all your 



163 

concerns, and you will soon fall an easy prey to your enemies. 
A lew revolving years will find you scattered abroad in distant 
regions, exposed to many hardships and dangers, under which, 
in a little time, you will be destroyed, and the council fire of 
the once powerful Seneca nation, will be extinguished, never 
again to be kindled. 

"Brothers ! Let us seriously inquire if the matters about 
which you have been contending, and which have occasioned 
so much agitation and distraction among you, are of sufficient 
importance, thus to put to hazard your dearest interests, and 
even to peril your very existence. 

"Brothers! The deep interest we feel in whatever concerns 
the prosperity of the Seneca nation, obliges us to speak plainly 
to you, and earnestly to warn you of the consequences which 
must come upon you, unless you can be prevailed on by mu- 
tual concessions and forbearance, to put an end to the party 
divisions that have been engendered among you. These divi- 
sions give great delight to your enemies — they plainly see that 
you are falling into the snares they have laid for your destruc- 
tion — for they are fully aware, that as a united people, they 
never could, by fraud or force, accomplish their earnestly cher- 
ished purpose of possessing themselves of your lands. 

" Brothers ! They know well the destructive effects, division 
and contention have produced, in many other Indian tribes in 
our country, and they are not ignorant of the means by which 
these dissentions have been produced. , Under the baneful in- 
fluences of these distractions, they have seen whole tribes of 
your race melt away like snow under a summer sun. The 
habitations of these tribes they have seen become the homes 
of another people — and the graves of their fathers in possession 
of their enemies ; and all this melancholy desolation was the 
consequence of divided councils. Even in your own nation, 
most of the evils that have fallen upon you, may be attributed 
to this same cause. Artful designing men, whose only object 
was to drive you from the lands descended to you from your 
forefathers, by the corrupting influences which they employed^ 



164 

first introduced dissention into your councils, and then took 
advantage of your folly, to rob and despoil you. 

" Brothers ! There is nothing new in all this ; this history 
of former times, relating to the white race, acquaint us, that 
by internal animosities, some oi the most powerful nations, 
that ever existed in this world were overthrown and destroyed 
— their enemies first excited, and then took advantage of their 
dissentions. By division they became powerless, and were easily 
destroyed. Can you, already reduced to a mere handful of men, 
surrounded, as you are, by untiring enemies, ready to take ad- 
vantage of every circumstance that may favor their designs to 
drive you from the remnant of land yet left to you, expect to 
escape the like calamity, should you unhappily continue to 
maintain the spirit of dissention which has latterly appeared 
amongst you? If you do, permit me, an aged brother and sin- 
cere friend, to warn you of your danger, and plainly to tell you 
that you will find, when perhaps it may be too late to avert the 
consequences, that you will have fallen into a fatal error. 

"Brothers! Let us then in conclusion earnestly entreat 
you to pause and reflect on your present critical situation, and 
let us advise you to lose no time, by mutual forbearance and 
concessions, to bury and forget all past animosities, and hasten 
to restore peace, concord and union among yourselves. Ac- 
complish this, and you will place yourselves safe from the arts 
and intrigues of your enemies. 

" Brothers ! Believing as we most certainly do, that all 
the efforts of your friends to benefit you will fail, unless you 
can be prevailed on to live together in harmony as a united 
people, we have felt it to be our duty, to speak plainly to you. 
It may, and probably will be, the last time my M-arning voice 
will ever be heard among you ; and although I may not be 
permitted to see the fulfilment of the predictions I have made, 
yet I assuredly believe, if you disregard my advice, and will 
persist in nourishing discord and divisions, there are those pre- 
sent, who will live to witness and experience the sufferings I 
have described. 



165 

Upon the conclusion of these remarks, another member of 
the committee addressed the council as follows : 

" Brothers ! The connection which now exists between 
the Seneca nation, and the present committees of the four 
Yearly Meetings of Friends, was commenced about seven 
years ago, at a time when you were involved in much distress, 
arising out of the treaty of 1838- At your request we came 
forward to assist you, and if possible to prevent the alienation 
of all your lands. We thought we saw that such alienation, 
by driving you into the wilderness beyond the Mississippi, 
must soon be followed by the total extinction of your once 
powerful nation. Through the assistance of the Great Spirit 
this dreadful catastrophe was prevented, by the restoration of 
two of your reservations, i?ufficiently fertile and extensive to 
accommodate your families, and amply to supply them with all 
the necessaries and comforts of life. 

" The evils to which you were subjected for want of some 
form of government better suited to your more advanced state 
of civilization, soon attracted our attention. In our attempts to 
set aside the treaty of 1838, we were made deeply sensible of the 
insecurity of a government without written records — where all 
its official acts might be called in question, and where nothing 
could be legally proved. The treaty by which all your reser- 
vations were fraudulently wrested from you, was sio-ned by 
forty-five persons, who were declared by the Ogden Company 
to be legally appointed chiefs, — This you denied, and we knew 
it was not true ; but for want of that kind of evidence which a 
proper constitution of government will always provide, to sub- 
stantiate its official acts, the question was so difficult to settle, 
according to legal requisitions, that your friends found it almost 
impossible to defend you against the most palpable frauds. 

" Your friends every where saw the dangers and difficulties 
of your situation under your old form of government, and were 
anxious for your rehef. By their exertions and the truly bene- 
volent disposition of the New York Legislature, a law was 
?d, which not only provided you with a government amply 



166 

sufficient to remedy the defects of that under which you have 
heretofore acted, but to secure you against depredations on 
your lands, and the ruin which always follows the introduction 
and free use of ardent spirits. 

" Brothers ! The passage of this law made our hearts 
glad, for we saw that a kind Providence had thereby thrown 
over you a shield of defence, under which, if you were wise 
enough to seek for shelter, you would find safety and peace. 

" Brothers ! We cannot express to you our surprise, and 
our pain, when we heard that this law, so eminently calculated 
to protect you from evil, and to promote your best interests, 
had become a subject of division and party strife among 3'ou : 
that this law, the fruit of the purest benevolence toward you ; 
every clause of which conveys to you some blessing, and 
in which is not to be found a single provision that is not 
in your favor, should be made a subject of clamour, and dissen- 
iion ; was indeed unexpected by us, and covered our minds 
with gloom and discouragement. 

" Brothers ! We would charitably hope that all this trou- 
ble among you has arisen from misapprehension, — that those 
who have opposed this law have mistaken its import ; and we 
indulge the hope, that time and experience will convince them 
of their error. It is hardly possible, that with upright honest 
intentions, they can long remain blind to their true interests ; 
and we confidently believe, that as they cherish a disposition 
to walk in the right path, the Great Spirit will remove the dark 
cloud that now hangs before their eyes, and cause the sun 
again to shine brightly upon them. 

"Brothers! We speak our own mind, and the mind of 
your best friends every where (so far as it has come to our 
knowledge) when we tell you, that this law, by which you are 
provided with a regular government, under the protection of 
the Great State in which you live, is eminently calculated to 
protect you from fraud, and preserve you from destruction. 
We believe that those who would persuade you to reject it, are 
your worst enemies — perhaps the very men who expect to 



167 

profit by your destruction. Will you, with your eyes open, 
walk into the snares of your deadliest foes? 

" Brothers ! As has already been stated to you, the great 
object of our concern, when we were first called to your assist- 
ance, has been attained — a home has been secured to you on 
the lands of your nation. We do not see that we can be any 
longer, of much service to you, and we are very desirous not 
to be burdensome to our friends. The school for the instruc- 
tion of your young women in the domestic arts, may perhaps, 
be usefully continued — that question we wish to submit to 
your decision, and also the question whether you wish that the 
Farm should remain longer under the care of Friends — On 
these points we expect you will give uts an answer before we 
leave the neighborhood. We wish however to be understood, 
that we do not feel any diminution of friendship for our Red 
Brethren, but are disposed to render them any counsel or as- 
sistance when they may desire it. 

One of the women Friends on the committee then addressed 
the council as follows : 
"My Brothers and Sisters! 

We feel thankful to the Great Spirit for his kind providence 
in bringing us safely to this place. I speak on behalf of the 
committee of women Friends. It is the first time we ever at- 
tended an Indian Council, and we have listened with deep 
interest, and attention to all, that has been said. It appears by the 
statements that we have heard made, the original objects for 
which this committee were associated, have all by the aid of 
the Great Spirit been fully accomplished, and that you are now 
secured in the possession of comfortable homes, which cannot 
be taken from you. 

"Sisters! Finding this to be the case, the committee 
might and probably would have felt themselves released from 
the necessity of continuing their labors among you. But ob- 
serving the unfavourable situation in which the female portion 
of your people were placed. Your Sisters, who were associa- 
ted with the Men Friends in this concern, felt it to be their 



168 

duty to request that some attention should be given to you 
Much had been done for the Indian men, and but little or noth- 
ing for you, they therefore after careful reflection, concluded 
at a Council held at this place last year, to bring this matter to 
the consideration of the Chiefs, and lay fully before them the 
views of your friends in relation to it. 

" Sisters ! The result, as you are aware was, that the pro- 
priety and advantages of the measures pruposed, were so clear- 
ly seen by that Council, that by a decision, which we believe 
was generally and perhaps unanimously approved, it was de- 
cided to change the system heretofore pursued in regard to the 
division of labor between the sexes, and to withdraw the wo- 
men from the toilsome employments in cultivating the land, 
and other occupations unsuited to the delicacy of our sex, and 
in the place of this, to encourage you to employ yourselves in 
the business and management of your household concerns — 
this it was seen and admitted by all, would greatly increase 
your comfort, and effectively promote the objects desired in 
relation to the nation — that is, their civilization and elevation 
to a proper rank and station in the community. 

"These views having been approved by you — your Sisters 
who we represent, believed a new and further duty had now 
devolved upon the committee. Your men had received the 
instruction necessity tor them — The women had been left ne- 
glected, and of course were ignorant of the proper manner of 
discharging the new duties to which they were about to be 
called. And it was concluded to establish a Manual Labor 
School for their instruction, where, in succession, your young 
women would be taught all the requisite branches of domestic 
and household business, such as sewing, knitting, spinning, 
washing, ironing, cooking, and indeed all other appropriate bu- 
siness. This School has now been in operation for near one 
year, and it is proposed if you desire it, to continue and extend 
its operations. 

"Sisters! We are told that to it, will probably hereafter 
be confined, the principal care and labor of the committee. As 



169 

your Sisters we feel a deep interest in the success of this effort, 
and eamestl}'^ recommend you, to extend to it your patronage 
and encouragement. Send your daughters to it, and do not 
permit the advantages it proposes, to remain unimproved, but 
secure to yourselves and to your children the great benefits it 
offers. Believe me, if you fail to avail yourselves of so favour- 
able an opportunity to obtain the valuable information offered, 
incalculable will be the loss your children will sustain. We 
therefore entreat you, our Sisters, with all the earnestness of art 
affectionate solicitude, to comply with our wishes — fully believ- 
ing that if you do, you will live to realize the desire of your 
hearts, and that before your earthly pilgrimage is accomplished, 
you will have the blessed assurance, you are leaving behind 
you w^orthy successors, who will carry forward the great work 
of improvement so happily began by you, after you will have 
been gathered to your Fathers." 

These addresses were listened to with marked attention, by 
the Chiefs and others present, among whom were a considera- 
ble number of women. After some conference among the 
Chiefs, it was concluded to refer the subjects introduced by 
Friends to a committee, who were desired to confer with our 
committee and empowered to enter into such arrangements as 
might be agreeable to both parties. A large committee of 
Chiefs were accordingly appointed, and it being intimated that 
the attendance of a committee of their women would be agree- 
able to Friends, these Chiefs, with a number of Indian women 
who had been appointed, met us in conference at the time pro- 
posed. The general Council having in the mean time been 
closed. 

The conference was attended by about twenty-five of the 
Indians, nearly one third of whom were females. 

After a short pause a member of the committee of Friends 
rose and explained to the Indians, the present views and pros- 
pects of Friends in relation to them. They were again re- 
minded, that the original objects and purposes of the four 
Yearly Meetings, when they associated as a joint committee, 
22 



170 

had been fully accomplished, and their lands made secure, that 
in addition to this, a municipal government, adapted to their 
wants, and affording ample protection to their persons and pro- 
perty, had been provided for them, and a system established 
by the Legislature of New York, for the school education of 
their children — and that they were now sufficiently instructed 
in the management of their farms, and had the requisite means 
and conveniences for carrying them on. Under these circum- 
stances it was again remarked, that Friends might be justified 
in withdrawing and leaving them to walk alone, and probably 
would have done so, but a concern having, as they were aware, 
arisen on the part of our women Friends, on acount of the un- 
favorable situation in which their females still remained. The 
attention of our Indian Brothers had, at the Council last year, 
been called to this subject, when they were advised to with- 
draw their women from the toilsome labors of the field, and 
encourage them to occupy themselves in the more appropriate 
business of household affairs. That as this advice had been 
approved by them, we proposed to open a female Manual La- 
bor School, for the instruction of their young women, in the 
employments which we had recommended they should hereaf- 
ter be engaged; and it was to this single object we now inten- 
ded, hereafter, to devote our care and attention. 

With this explanation, we now submitted the matter to their 
consideration, and desired them to be free and plain in giving 
us their decision. The house as now constructed it was ob- 
served, had been found too small for the accommodation of all 
the scholars that were offered, and it was suggested that it be 
enlarged — That if agreeable to them, we were willing to be at 
the expense of putting up the requisite additional room, pro- 
vided they would agree to furnish the materials, and were, 
content to let us occupy the farm, on the same terms as here- 
tofore — as long as it might be agreeable to both parties. 

Young Chief in reply said, "Our brothers have made us 
plainly to understand their propositions and I am instructed to 
say we iuliy approve them. We therefore hope they will now 



171 

go on and prosecute their efforts to carry their views into effect. 
We will place our children wholly under your exclusive care 
and control. We are grateful for the kindness you have 
shown to us, and we return our thanks to the Society of Friends 
for sending you so far to visit us." 

"I have always had the greatest confidence in the Society 
of Friends, they have ever been faithful and true to the Indians, 
and were never known to give them any advice but what was 
calculated to promote their happin ess — of this we have now 
again at the pr esent time a new evidence. 

" Brothers ! You have often recommended us to change 
the employments of our women, and this, as well as all your 
other advice to us, I fully believe is for our good. It is my 
opinion that God has made women better than men, and I know 
they are wiser. I hope they will hereafter be encouraged to 
employ themselves in the business you have recommended. I 
have thought it right to say this. We are glad to see the wo- 
men Friends who have come on with you to assist you by their 
advice. We believe your motives are good, and we think it a 
mercy to us, that we have had an opportunity of being so many 
days with you, in our late Council. 

Brothers ! We know that we are poor weak mortals ; and 
we feel that we need your assistance. We cannot number our 
days, and may never again meet you. We are told you will 
leave us to-morrow, on your return to your homes. We will 
•pray the Great Spirit that he may guide and protect you on 
your way to your families. It is Inie, and it is a consolation 
to us, that we may visit one another in spirit, when far distant 
from each other. 

'' Brothers ! I will relate all that has been said this even- 
ing to a general Council of our people and will try to prevail 
on them to follow your advice. 

"Gua-na-ea, one of the female Indians who had been dele- 
gated to attend this conference, rose and said, "I am one of 
the females appointed to come here and listen to what our 
friends might have to say. This is the tirst time any oppoitu- 



172 

nity has been offered for one of my sex lo be heard in any ot 
the deliberations of our Nation. We feel thankful for this fa- 
vor, and confTratulate ourselves that we have been permitted 
to meet our female friends here in Council, and trust, a new 
and better prospect is about opening before us. 

"I am instructed by the women now present to say, tliat we 
fully fipprove the propositions that have been made in refer- 
ence t(j the education of our children, and that it is our earnest 
desire they may be instructed in the manner recommended. 
We will do all in our power to co-operate in and promote so 
good a work.'' 

Job Pierce observed, that " he would be pleased to hear the 
female Friends present speak to their women, who were then 
attending, he hoped they would give them such advice as they 
might think useful." He remarked that " new light had bro- 
ken in upon them in respect to the proper station, duties, and 
employments of women, which he hoped and believed would 
lead to the most important and beneficial consequences." 

One of the women Friends of the committee then rose and 
said, " The remarks of our sister who has just spoken, have 
been grateful to me — they afford an evidence of the solicitude 
felt by our Indian sisters, for the right education of their chil- 
dren, and I hope they will continue to give their particular at- 
tention to this matter. To mothers, properly belongs the care 
and management of the education of their children, and espe- 
cially of their daughters — they are therefore responsible for the 
discharge of that important trust. In the discharge of this, as 
well as all our other duties, we should look to the Great Spirit 
to strengthen our endeavors, and give us wisdom rightly to 
direct our steps. It is in early infancy that lasting impressions 
are made upon children, and we cannot begin too early to in- 
stil into their young and tender minds, the principles of virtue 
— to impress upon them the necessity of being honest, indus- 
trious, and correctly moral in all their conduct — to be neat and 
cleanly in their persons, and respectful in their behavior. Thus 



173 

as they advance in age, they will become a blessing to their 
parents, and useful in the community. 

" Sisters ! I hope you will send your children to the 
school your friends have established here, and that they may 
receive the advantages it offers ; but you must not think your 
duty is performed, even after they may have been educated. 
On returning to their homes, they should practice there, the 
business they may have been taught, and thus become good 
practical house keepers. 

" Sisters ! We have visited a number of you in your own 
houses, and have been much gratified to find some of you far 
more comfortably situated than we had expected ; but there is 
still great room for improvement. We hope you will go for- 
ward and not stop. Had circumstances permitted we would 
gladly have visited many more of you. 

" Sisters ! The time is near when we must leave you, and 
it is with feelings of affectionate regard, and sincere desires for 
your welfare that we shall part from you, and if it be the will 
of the Great Spirit, that we should never again see each other, 
we shall carry with us a grateful recollection of the satisfaction 
we have enjoyed, while we were mingled with you in our late 
deliberations together, as well as in social intercourse, assuring 
you of our fervent desires for your present and everlasting wel- 
fare, we bid you an affectionate farewell." 

John Cook said he wished to make a few brief remarks. 
" The Great Spirit has, in his goodness, permitted us to meet 
at this time, and happily to conclude the interesting business 
in which we have been engaged. I feel from my inmost soul 
grateful for the advice our friends have given us, as well as for 
the deep concern they have showed for our welfare. Since I 
was a child the Quakers have been our constant unwavering 
friends, and it rejoices my heart to see their descendants still 
willing to assist us. 

''Brothers ! There are remaining but few of the old men, 
who your fathers succored, they are nearly all fallen and are 



174 

gone, but we are happy to find that your kindness is continued 
to their children.'' 

Young Chiet stated it was now drawing late, but he hoped 
he would be indulged in making a few remarks. "He said, 
when I was a small boy some Friends made a visit to the In- 
dians, and offered to assist them, and they left some farming 
implements, and a few cattle ; some time afterwards these 
Friends made them another visit, and offered premiums for the 
culture of wheat. The Indians were told that they wanted 
their land, and upon this they became alarmed. The Friends 
assured them they wanted none of their land or peltry, and 
they gave them a writing on parchment, pledging themselves 
that they never would ask either land or other remuneration for 
any thing they might do for them." (This parchment he now 
produced, signed by a number of Friends at Philadelphia, 
scarcely of one of whom, it was stated, is now living.) He 
concluded by saying, " the Friends had faithfully redeemed 
this pledge, and had never, to this day, asked or accepted the 
smallest remuneration for any thing they had done for the 
Indians." 

The committee then proceeded to confer with the Indians 
upon the requite arrangements for enlarging the accommoda- 
tions of the school and for its future management. This being 
aoreed upon and settled, a joint committee of Indian men and 
women were appointed, to visit and superintend it, as occasion 
might render necessary. 

It will now be proper to notice more particularly ,the circum- 
stances which occasioned the call of this council, and which 
have been incidentally alluded to, in the preceding narrative. 

By reference to official documents in the Indian Department 
it appears, that a petition from a small party of discontented 
emigrationists, at the Tuscarora village, dated March 4th, 1845^ 
was sent to the President of the United States, expressing a de- 
sire to remove to the West. It also further appears, that a let- 
ter had been received by the Department, from a certain D. 
G. Garnsey, dated May Sth, 1845, stating that a portion of the 



175 

Senecas, and others of the six nations in western New York, 
were now ready to remove. 

The Government justly fearing there might be persons so 
anxious to possess themselves of the moneys, appropriated by 
law for the removal and support of emigrating Indians, as to 
resort to fraudulent means for that purpose, by letters warned 
the Indian Agent at Buffalo, to be on his guard against such 
impositions.^ Afterwards, several petitioners from small fragments 
of the Senecas and other tribes, were prevailed on to sign me- 
morials to the President, asking to be removed, and begging 
appropriations for that purpose. To those well acquamted with 
these movements, there is sufficient evidence, that persons in- 
terested in their removal, were at the bottom of all this busi- 
ness. 

Of the six nations, once the owners and lords of the soil, 
within the boundaries of the great Commonwealth of New 
York, there are many small remnants scattered over the western 
parts of that State, in a condition of wretched vagrancy ; re- 
duced by idleness and intemperance to poverty, and ready, for 
a trifling compensation, to hd^ve their names attached to any 
memorial, without regard to its objects. For a small sum of 
money, they will lend themselves to the service of any artful 
intriguer, whose designs are to defraud the Government. 

By an Act of Congress passed on the 3d of the Fourth 
month, 1843, the sum of twenty thousand four hundred and 
seventy-seven dollars and fifty cents, was appropriated for the 
removal of two hundred and fifty Indians^ to the country west 
and south of the Missouri river. This appropriation was granted 
in consequence of repeated assurances made to the Indian De- 
partment, that this number was anxious to emigrate. The 
glittering prize thus hung up in the face of the noon-day sun, 
was so bright and alluring, that a goodly number of hungry 
candidates, was soon seen entering the lists, and struggling for 
the prize. But alas ! for the conditions. Unless two hundred 
and fifty Indians could be procured to enrol themselves on the 
emigration engagement, and actually embarJc for the west, the 



176 

stakes could not be legally won. Here was the great difficulty. 
And yet one would suppose, that out of four thousand eight 
hundred and eighty-jive Indians, belonging to the following 
tribes, to wit: the Senecas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, 
Oneidas, St. Regis's, Stockbridges, Munsees, and Brothertowns, 
by raking up all the poor degraded individuals, and gathering 
together all the sincere emigrationists, such a small proportion 
of the whole might easily be procured : especially if these can- 
didates for an agency, had told the truth, when they asserted 
that large bodies of the Indians were anxious to remove. 

By these movements the Government had been induced to 
believe that there really was an emigration party, sufficiently 
large to meet the objects of the late appropriation, and to war- 
rant the appointment of an Emigration Agent. Under this im- 
pression the Secretary of War, by a letter dated Sept. 12, 
1845, addressed to Dr. Abraham Hogeboom, appointed him to 
that office. Instructing him however that no movement must 
be made, unless the full complement of emigrants should de- 
sire, bona fide, to remove to the west, and Hogeboom was also 
explicitly informed, that "the Government would not under- 
take the emigration of these Indians unless two hundred and 
fifty of them, then residing in the State of New York, exclu- 
sive of Canada Indians, should muster themselves, and actually 
go with the Agent." As if to leave no door open for misun- 
derstanding, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington 
also addressed a letter to Hogeboom, dated Oct. 2d, in which it 
was expressly declared that " two hundred and fifty Indians is 
the smallest number that will be emigrated." 

On the 27th of that month, Hogeboom wrote to the Depart- 
ment, giving it information that "two hundred and nine In- 
dians had enrolled themselves, and that some of their chiefs had 
assured him, that at Buffalo, Cattaraugus, and Alleghany, there 
would be about twenty more. Thus the utmost number that 
the Doctor could then even dare to hope for, was two hundred 
and twenty-nine. If that letter was written in order to feel after 
the temper of the Department, and to ascertain how far it was 



177 

disposed to relax its determination, to send no less away, than 
two hundred and fifty, he was not lett long in suspense, for by 
a letter dated Nov. 4th, the Secretary of War again reminded 
him that he was " selected as Emigrating Agent" to act only 
in the event that two hundred, and fifty would go." But on the 
7th of that month, Hogeboom again writes to him, dating his 
letter from Buffalo, saying he had " ascertained that two hun- 
dred and sixty Indians had enrolled themselves, and had fixed 
on the SOth of that month as the time for starting." This sud- 
den and unexpected movement was not agreeable to the Secre- 
tary, on account of the advanced state of the season ; but 
hoping they might get out before the lakes and rivers should 
be impassable on account of the ice, he immediately ordered 
provisions, for their sustenance at their intended homes, to be 
procured and in readiness by the time of their arrival. 

Notwithstanding all these assurances on the part of Hoge- 
boom, whsn the time for testing their truth came, the whole 
scheme failed : a sufficient number of the Indians could not 
be persuaded to go. The emigration was therefore indefinitely 
postponed. 

It will be seen by the foregoing statement, that on the 27th 
of the 10th month, Hogeboom wrote to the Department, that 
only 209 had enrolled themselves, and he then admitted that 
only twenty more could be hoped for in addition ; of course 
there was no prospect of emigration that season. Indeed, 
the Doctor says in that letter, speaking of the Indians, " they 
do not think they will be able to obtain the number of 250 to 
emigrate this fall." Up to this time nothing had been done to 
induce the War Department to advance any money to the Agent. 
So that not only the emigration scheme had failed, but, so far 
as the Doctor had been moved by pecuniary motives, he had 
also failed. This was no doubt a trying circumstance, but the 
trial did not long continue, for only ten days after he had writ- 
ten to the Department, that the Indians did not think they 
could emigrate this fall ; he wrote again to the Secretary of 
War, under date Nov. 7, 1845, saying " / have ascertained that 
23 



178 

260 Indians have enrolled themselves for emigration, and have 
fixed the time for starting on the 20th inst." The following is 
an extract of a letter from the Department to Hogeboom, dated 
Nov. 14th, in answer to his of the 7th. It was no doubt Buch 
a letter as the Doctor much desired. 

Sir— 

I have received your letter of the 7th inst. informing the 
Department of the enrolment of 260 New York Indians, for 
emigration to their western home, and proceed, now there ap- 
pears to be no doubt of the movement tak'mg place^ to give you 
some instructions, &c. • * * * A requisition for 10,000 
dollars has this day been issued in your favor, with which you 
will be charged, and held accountable for, under the head of 
" Removal, &c. of New York Indians," per act 3d March, 1843. 
Signed 

W. MEDILL, Commissioner. 

Thus the Doctor was put into possession of the sum of ten 
thousand dollars, and we hear no more about the two hundred 
and sixty Indians, nor of any more trouble about Indian emi- 
gration, during the remainder of that year. 

The proceedings of Dr. Hogeboom, and other persons inter- 
ested in removing the Senecas, necessarily produced great 
agitation, and a very unsettled state among those who had no 
view of emigrating. The chiefs, on the reservations of Alle- 
ghany and Cattaraugus, harrassed and perplexed by this vexa- 
tious state of things, at length determined to address the Presi- 
dent on the occasion. This application procured the appoint- 
ment of the council, Avhich was held at Cattaraugus in the 6th 
month, 1 846, of which we have before given a particular ac- 
cout. [See page 156 and sequel.] 

In the spring of 1846, Dr. Hogeboom, hearing that the Gov- 
ernment had called a council of the Senecas, for the express 
purpose of inquiring ojficialhj, whether there was an emigration 
party among them, and if there was one, what was its number, 



179 

made great exertions to push off his emigrants. Regardlesa of 
the positive instructions of the Government, and without its 
knowledge, he hastily collected as many of the Indians as he 
could bring under his influence, and with them embarked in a 
steamboat at Silver Creek, on Lake Erie, near the Cattaraugus 
Reservation. The circumstances and manner of this embarka- 
tion throws much light on the motives and conduct of this 
Emigrating Agent. The subject is graphically related in a 
speech of Israel Jemison, as made in the council of 1846, and 
addressed to the Commissioner of the United States. [See 
pages 159, 160.] 

The painful, and indeed the awful results of this inhuman 
conduct of Dr. Hogeboom, will be seen by reference to the 
Memorial of the Seneca chiefs, to the President of the United 
States, invoking the aid of the Government, to bring back the 
wretched surviving remnant of their poor duped people It is 
as follows. 

To his Excellency James K. Polk, President of the United 
Stales. 

The Memorial of the undersigned chiefs and warriors of the 
Seneca nation of Indians, residing in the State of New York, 

Respectfully showeth, 

That a party of the Seneca nation, consisting, as your me- 
morialists have been informed, of sixty-two persons, together 
with a portion of the Cayugas, Onondagas and Oneidas, resi- 
ding with us, and a party of the Tuskaroras, residing near 
Lewlstown, in Niagara County, left the State of New York last 
spring, to settle in the country west of Missouri. That your 
memorialists have been credibly informed, by letters received 
from individuals among them, and by the statements of such 
as have returned, that great distress has, from their first arrival 
there, existed among them, and does still exist without miti- 
gation, in consequence of the insalubrity of the climate, — that 
twenty persons, of the sixty-two Senecas, were already dead, 
some six weeks since, and about the same proportion of our 



180 

friends of the other tribes, — that many others were sick, — that 
three of the leading Seneca chiefs, one of the Onondagas, one 
of the Oneidas, aad a leading man of the Tuskaroras were 
dead. That the remnant of the people, with very few excep- 
tions, were exceedingly anxious to return, but were destitute 
of the means of doing so, — that many of them have sent ear- 
nest requests to us for assistance, to enable them to do so, but 
that only a few families amongst us are able to furnish efficient 
relief to their suffering friends. In view of all these facts, we 
would respectfully request the President, to furnish the neces- 
sary assistance to bring back the remnant of ihe party to their 
former homes, and to arrange the payment of the annuities be- 
longing to them, so that in future they may receive them here. 
Although they went out from us against our earnest remon- 
strance and entreaty, and some of them mocking our expres- 
sions of concern for them, as we stood around the boat when 
they were going on board, still we shall rejoice to give them a 
home again amongst us, for they are our brethren, and their 
sufferings grieve us to the heart. Thirteen of the Senecas 
have already returned, and three others we have heard are on 
the way. This makes the condition of those unable to return, 
the more lonely and wretched. 

We hope the President will not sav it was their own fault 
that they went there: for even if they were to be blamed for 
doing so, they have already suffered a fearful punishment. 
But we think, if the President were acquainted with the cir- 
cumstances, he would pity rather than blame them for going. 
Notice had been repeatedly given from the War Department, 
that unless a company of two hundred and filly emigrants 
could be organised, none would be removed. Such a compa- 
ny having failed to be organised in the fall of 1845, we were 
told that the department had required the removing agent to 
refund the money he had received, for the purpose of removing 
them. In the spring of the present year, certain men were 
running from house to house among our people, saying that 
the agent still held the money in his hands, and would remove 



181 

all who wished to go, upon the opening of navigation. Directly 
after notice was received from gevernment, that commissioners 
were appointed, and that a council would be held on a speci 
fied day, to ascertain if the requisite number wished to emi- 
grate. When this became known, it was immediately report- 
ed that the removing agent, (Dr. Hogeboom,) had already con- 
tracted for their passage, — that the steamboat would take them 
in at Cattaraugus Creek, on a certain day, and that it was not 
necessary for them to wait for the action of the government. 
The agent soon after appeared, accompanied by two individuals 
from Buffalo, who, as we were afterwards credibly informed, 
instigated him to practise this fraud upon the government, and 
endeavoured, by representing the country west, as a paradise, to 
induce a large company to go on board their boat. Some of 
our friends, who had not disposed of their effects, were told 
not to mind their stuff, for the country to which they were 
going was so rich, and they would prosper there so rapidly, 
that they would never feel the loss of it ; and one family were 
hurried away from their table, leaving every thing upon it 
just as it was when they arose from dinner. We have reason 
to believe that the whole company, except a few leaders, most 
of whom are now dead, were deluded by these flattering but 
false representations ot those white men, and inasmuch as the 
removing agent appeared on the ground with the money in his 
hand, those simple people were made to discredit the orders 
received from the department, relative to the council of the 
2d June. Justice would indeed seem to require, that these 
white men should repair the injury they have done to us, and 
not to us alone, but also to the government. But we have no 
power to compel them. Our only resource is to appeal to the 
government in behalf of our afflicted and desponding brethren, 
who are perishing under the accumulated pressure of disap- 
pointed expectations — grief for the dead, and the heavy hand 
of disease upon their own persons. 

We trust our appeal will not be disregarded. We think it 
is the dictate of humanity, and we confidently believe that the 



182 



voice of the whole country would approve the course of the 
President, if he should grant the needed relief. We would beg 
leave further to request the President to make known to us 
through our friend Philip E. Thomas of Baltimore, who will 
present our memorial, the decision which he may make in 
regard to it. And your memorialists, as in duty bound, will 
ever pray, &c. 



Cattaraugus Reservation, 
December 16, 1846. 
James x Shongo, 
N. T. Strong, 
Robert x. Gordon, 
Daniel* Two Guns 
William x Johnson, 
Benjamin Williams, 
John Kennedy, jr. 
David X Snow, 
Joseph X Snow, 
Solomon W. Lane, 
Henry Two Guns, ' 
John Taylor, 
Governor x Blacksnake, 
William x Patterson, 
S. M. Patterson, 
James x Stephenson, 
Jabez Stephenson, 



Moses Stephenson, 
William x Jones, 
Zechariah x L. Jamison, 
Samuel x Wilson, 
John X Bolden, 
George Greenblanket, 
George Lindsay, 
John Hudson, 
Jim X Junis, 
Little X John, 
John X Luke, 
John X Green Blanket, 
Israel x Jamison, 
Moses X Pierce, 
Abraham x John, 
Peter x White, 
Charles Greybeard. 



In reply to this memorial the following answer was received 
from the Indian Bureau at Washington. 

"War Department, Office of Indians Affairs, ) 
Feb'y 23, 1847, 5 

Sir — The application for the removal of the Seneca Indians 
'back to New York, who emigrated west from there last sum- 
mer, has been duly considered. With every disposition to gra- 
tify the wishes of the Society of Friends, and of the New York 



183 

Indians, so far as it could properly be done, I have to inform 
you, that the Executive Department of the Government, has 
neither the authority, nor the means to justify a compliance 
with their desire. In this particular, Congress only could au- 
thorize the measure, and provide the requisite means for the 
expense it would involve. 

Respectfully, your ob't serv'nt. 

W. MEDILL. 
To PHILIP E. THOMAS, Esq. 

Baltimore, Md. 

When the chiefs were made acquainted with the result of this 
application, they addressed the following communication to the 
Joint Committee of Friends — 

Cattaraugus Reservation, March 22c/, 1847. 
Respected Friend, 

Philip E. Thomas — 
Permit us to address you a few lines, and through you the 
committee of the Four Yearly Meetings of the Society of 
Friends, in reference to the condition of our suffering friends 
and brethren still remaining in the country west of the Missis- 
sippi. We suppose the committee already are thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the means used, to decoy those Indians off, in 
contravention of the instructions of the Government to the re- 
moving Agent. They were flattered with prospects of almost 
unbounded prosperity. The country was described as a para- 
dise : and they were told, that their friends here, who might 
now refuse to accompany them, would soon be compelled to 
follow, and that it would be far better to go now and get well 
started in their improvement, &c. as soon as possible. But 
when they reached that country, instead of being a paradise, 
they found it rather the land of desolation, disease and death, 
and a large proportion of them are now lying beneath the turf. 
The survivors are discouraged and broken hearted, in addition 
to their sufferings from the disease, which has swept off their 
companions, and they are anxious to return. Application has 



184 

been made to the Government in their behalf, without obtain- 
ing relief; and from a recent letter from Dr. Wilson, we learn 
that a similar application to the Legislature of this State is likely 
to fail. We cannot make any appropriation from our National 
funds until the meeting of our national council, as a law has 
been passed which would forbid it. But if we delay till that 
meeting, it will expose our friends to the horrors of the sickly 
season once more, and doubtless many more of them wiU perish 
in consequence. 

Under these circumstances, we see no other resource but to 
look again to those kind hearted friends, who have done so 
much already to relieve us in our distresses. Our obligations 
are already very great, and we cherish deep feelings of grati- 
tude for past favors. We would not willingly burden your 
kindness now, were it not for the peculiarly difficult and per- 
plexing condition of things just at the present time. But we 
feel that humanity towards our own people, demands of us to 
make this application in their behalf, and we would therefore 
earnestly and respectfully invoke the Society of Friends, for 
such assistance as you may feel disposed to minister to their 
necessities, and in their behalf, as w^eU, as of ourselves, we will 
always cherish a lively remembrance of your kindness. 

Wishing you the reward of the benevolent, in the great day, 
we subscribe ourselves your obliged and sincere friends, 

In presence of > HENRY TWO GUNS, 

AsHER Wright. 3 WILLIAM KROU^E, 

GEORGE X BUTTON, 
JOHN X GREENBLANKET, 
ABRAHAM x JOHN, 
JAMES SPRING, 
DANIEL TWO GUNS. 

Notwithstanding these Indians were carried away without 
the knowledge or sanction of the Government, and consequent- 
ly without the requisite [)reparation for their comfort and sub- 
sistance in the western country, yet the Commissioner of In- 



186 

dian Affairs, as soon as he was apprized of the movements of 
Dr. Hogeboom, anxious to afford them all the relief in his 
power, promptly ordered arrangements for their reception, 
at the place of their destination, as will be seen by the follow- 
ing extracts from documents in the War Department. 

War Department, Office Indian Affairs, } 
June 10 th, 1846. <, 
Sir— 

Information has been recently received at this Office, that 
A. Hogeboom had started for St. Louis wi,th a party of New 
York Indians, in number about two hundred. This act of 
starting with a less number than two hundred and fifty, in con- 
nection with the recent action of this Office, looking to a sus- 
pension of the emigration for a time, was wholly unauthorized, 
and of course unexpected , but as the party are without the 
reach of the Department, measures must be taken to subsist 
them. I have therefore to request that you will give directions 
to the Osage Sub- Agent, to invite proposals, and enter into con- 
tract for their subsistence for twelve months, as contemplated 
in my instructions to you of the 14th November, 1845, to 
which you are referred. 

Respectfully, &c. 

W. MEDILL. 
T. W. HARVEY, Esq. 

Sup't Indian Affairs, St. Louis, Mo. 

Notwithstanding this humane effort on the part of the Com- 
missioner, to make provision for the reception and accommoda- 
tion of these emigrants, it appears that from the hardships and 
exposures to which they were subjected, and from the un- 
M^holesome nature of the climate, one third of them perished 
within six months after their arrival at their intended residence. 

When their distressed situation was made known to the De- 
partment, the Commissioner immediately addressed a letter to 
the Indian Agent, at St. Louis, calling his attention to their 
case — from which the following is extracted. 
24 



186 



War Department, Office Indian Affairs, \ 
Oct. 29, 1846. S 
Sir— 

I transmit herewith a copy of a letter just received from 
James Cussick, one of the party of the New York Indians, re- 
moved west last summer by Dr. Hogeboom, from which it ap- 
pears, that there has been much sickness and mortality among 
those Indians, and that they are in a distressed situation. 



Mr. Cussick' s letter, supported as it is by Capt. Burbanks, is 
calculated to excite much anxiety on account of these Indians. 
They were removed contrary to the instruction and expecta- 
tions of the Department at the time ; and their having gone 
west, was not known, until they were some distance on the 
route. There was consequently no opportunity for making the 
requisite preliminary arrangements for their comfort and wel- 
fare on their arrival west. After giving you the instructions of 
June 10, for their subsistence, much had to be left to the judg- 
ment and views of duty, under these circumstances, of yourself 
and the Osage Sub- Agent, under whose immediate supervision 
they came, in regard to what was further required to be done 
for them. 

In my letter of the 30th ultimo, your attention was specially 
called to their situation, and no doubt is entertained that your 
answers to that communication, will show you have done, 
or caused to be done, all that could be, under the circum- 
stances, for their reUef. Should the amount now remitted not 
be sufficient to cover the expenses of what you have already 
done, or what it may be in your judgment further requisite 
to do for them, in addition to their subsistence for which there 
is a special appropriation, you will please report promptly ac- 
cordingly, and the necessary funds will be furnished. Funds 



187 

will also be remitted on account of their subsistence, when this 
Office is informed that they are needed. 



# * # » 

Respectfully, 

THOS. H. HARVEY. Esq. 

St. Louis, Mo. 



W. MEDILL. 



The committees charged by the Yearly Meetings with this 
concern, have not felt themselves called upon, to interfere 
in the questions that have agitated the Senecas, respecting 
their political, social or religious affairs. For many years a 
portion of the nation, had been under the care and notice of 
Friends — schools had been established for the education of 
their children, agricultural implements, from time to time were 
furnished to them, and persons had been employed to instruct 
them in farming. It was to these objects that the attention of 
the committees had been especially directed. 

When requested by the chiefs to assist in preventing the 
forcible expulsion of their people from the homes, descended 
to them from their forefathers, and for the security of which, 
the public faith had repeatedly been solemnly pledged, the 
committee believed it right to afford them all the aid in their 
power, and they did so ; and when in the course of the other 
difficulties and troubles in which these Indians occasionally 
became involved, they solicited our advice, it was freely given. 
Such of them as desired to emigrate to the west, so far as the 
committees have been concerned, have been left at liberty to 
decide for themselves, and our interferences have extended no 
further, than to endeavor by all proper means, to prevent the 
compulsory removal of those who did not desire to emigrate. 

The conflict in which we have been engaged has been an 
arduous one. It has involved much labor, expense of time, 
and personal exposure, but it is a consolation that there has 
been preserved to the Senecas a home, on part of their ancient 
domain, where, by moderate labor, they may always obtain^ 



188 

not only the necessaries, but conforts of life — that they have 
very generally become a sober industrious people, and that 
they, and especially their unoffending women and children 
have been saved from the miseries and dangers of exile to 
a land, not at all suited to their present state, and which 
experience has proved to be very destructive to their race. 
Much has been done to educate their children, and prepare 
them for the more advanced stages of civilization. Thus 
it appears some of the principal objects of their appoint- 
ment have been attained. Under this consideration, we have 
indulged the hope that we, at no distant day, might be permit- 
ted to close the joint concern, and leave the Indians to puisue 
their own happiness in theii own way. But hitherto, when 
we have brought the subject close home, and endeavored to 
weigh it in the true balance, the way has not yet appeared so 
clear, entirely to withdraw from the concern, as we could 
desire. 

It is evident that the Indians of our country, are not able to 
stand their ground, before the jnore mature intellect, and con- 
summate artifice of the Anglo-Saxon race. They have needed, 
and they yet need, faithful, able counsellors, to stand by them 
in the difficulties and dangers which surround them. Of this 
we have a chain of evidence extending from remote periods 
up to the present year. Without protection there is strong 
reason to believe the race will perish. Even the New York 
Indians, advanced as they are in the arts of civilized life, can- 
not yet stand alone. William Penn said of the Indians in his 
day, '■ he will deserve the name of a wise man, that outwits 
them in any treaty, about a thing they understand ;" and yet 
it is true, in relation to the Indians of our day, that the while 
man is constantly outwitting them, in cases where, if they do 
not understand, it is not for want of experience ; — in cases 
where, if they are not cautious, it is not because they have not 
suffered severely to make them so. There is something in 
their character so unsuspecting, so confiding, that even the 
most painful experience seems insufficient to overcome it. 



189 

But there are causes, now in active operation, that pro- 
mise to work a great change in those people. The rising 
generation are obtaining the powerful aid of intellectual cul- 
ture. Their women are being withdrawn from the drudgery 
of the field, and are occupying themselves in the proper 
duties of their sex, — the care of their families, and the educa- 
tion of their children. They are adopting a mode of living, 
more comfortable than a poor wigwam can afford, and more 
expensive, in respect to bed and board, than a buffalo skin 
and a dish of hominy; and their men will now be compelled 
to exercise their faculties, in providing the means of subsist- 
ence ; all which can hardly fail to advance them in civiliza- 
tion, and prepare them to meet the exigencies and difficulties 
of life. 

Before concluding this review of our labours, we think it 
right to acknowledge the uniform kindness we have received 
from the heads of the War Department, and other officers of 
the government, hi our intercourse with them, we have been 
treated with marked attention and respect, — our suggestions 
have received all proper consideration, and our measures for 
the benefit of the Indians, a cordial support. We cannot recur 
to our intercourse with the Indian Bureau at Washington, 
without feelings of gratitude, nor close this narrative without 
an acknowledgment of our obligations to the head of that De- 
partment. 



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